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Posted on May 31, 2015 May 29, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand
I've gone weeks with relatively few blog tours, but next week is chock-full of them. Lucky for me, they are all for books that I am really anxious to read, so it should be a real treat of a week.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
One copy of Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland
A- Review: Beyond Galaxy's Edge by Anna Hackett
B+ Review: Murder and Mayhem by Rhys Ford
B+ Review: The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
B Review: Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland + Giveaway
The Marriage Season by Linda Lael Miller (blog tour review)
The Talon of the Hawk by Jeffe Kennedy (blog tour review)
Moonlight on Butternut Lake by Mary McNear (blog tour review)
Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy (blog tour review)
The Clockwork Crown by Beth Cato (blog tour review)
Posted in Giveaways, The Sunday Post, Virtual NightstandTagged book giveaway, chick lit, contemporary romance, fantasy romance, historical fiction, M/M romance, romantic suspense, science fiction romance, steampunk, TBR, women's fiction★ 1 Comment ★
I'll admit that I really love these short stack weeks. But I'm starting to wonder whether its a lack of books, a lack of choices, my own changing tastes or, heaven forbid, the early signs of a reading slump.
Oh noes! Anything but that…
Fable: Blood of Heroes by Jim C. Hines
Inherit the Stars by Laurie A. Green
Opening Up (Ink and Chrome #1) by Lauren Dane
A Sword for His Lady (Courtly Love #1) by Mary Wine
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai (Song of the Shattered Sands #1) by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Negotiation (Twelve Kingdoms #0.5) by Jeffe Kennedy
Posted in Stacking the ShelvesTagged contemporary romance, fantasy, fantasy romance, historical romance, nonfiction, science fiction romance, TBR★ 1 Comment ★
Review: Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland + Giveaway
Posted on May 29, 2015 May 28, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> Giveaways
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available:
Genre: chick lit, women's fiction
Date Released: May 12, 2015
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
This unforgettable debut novel asks us to look up from our screens and out at the world…and to imagine what life would be like with no searches, no status updates, no texts, no Tweets, no pins, and no posts
Evie Rosen has had enough. She's tired of the partners at her law firm e-mailing her at all hours of the night. The thought of another online date makes her break out in a cold sweat. She's over the clever hashtags and the endless selfies. So when her career hits a surprising roadblock and her heart is crushed by Facebook, Evie decides it's time to put down her smartphone for good. (Beats stowing it in her underwear–she's done that too!)
And that's when she discovers a fresh start for real conversations, fewer distractions, and living in the moment, even if the moments are heartbreakingly difficult. Babies are born; marriages teeter; friendships are tested. Evie just may find love and a new direction when she least expects it, but she also learns that just because you unplug your phone doesn't mean you can unplug from life.
Love and Miss Communication is an adorable fluffy, downy chick of a chick lit story, mixed with some multi-generational women's fiction backbone and a loving but slightly stereotypical dose of Jewish grandmother guilt complex.
There's also some interesting commentary on the fulfillment, or lack thereof, in our 24/7 always connected, always available technologically driven lives in the 21st century.
Evie Rosen starts out the story addicted to the internet, and it is not making her happy or fulfilled. Instead, it makes her discontented and consistently lowers her self-esteem at every turn.
It also gets her fired.
We all forget that our employers have the right to monitor anything we do on company computers and/or company equipment. Like Evie, for many of us, our jobs are who we are.
Evie is a senior associate attorney at a "white shoe" law firm in New York. She expects to make partner. She's earned it, devoting all of her waking hours to her job and neglecting her friends, her family and herself in the process.
Instead, she is fired. She's a great attorney, but she is also the company's single biggest user of the company internet for personal business. She constantly checks Facebook to find out who is doing better than she is, and she Googles everyone she meets.
She's obsessive. She's so obsessive that when she Googles her famous chef ex-boyfriend to find out what he's up to now, she discovers that the man who said he didn't believe in marriage has, in fact, gotten married.
Barfing all over her laptop is the last straw. Google-induced vomiting destroys her computer. And after a few hours searching New York for a safe place to log on, Evie finally decides that enough is enough. It's time to stop living vicariously through her computer and start living in real time. With real places and real people.
Of course, she goes a bit too far the other way, but that's Evie – obsessive and compulsive about it.
While her friends and family are busily exchanging emails and evites and unthinkingly leaving her out, Evie has to deal with a family crisis. Her beloved grandmother Bette, who has equally obsessively been pushing Evie to find a husband and get married, is diagnosed with breast cancer. Evie is forced to deal with the fact that her time with her grandmother is finite, and possibly ending even sooner than she hoped.
Little does Evie know that her grandmother is using her very real and very scary diagnosis to make one last effort to get Evie's head out of her own ass and recognize that there is someone out there for her – if only she can be herself long enough to make a real connection – without the false expectations raised by technology to steer her wrong.
Escape Rating B: I liked Evie a lot. It's easy to sympathize with her desire to disconnect. Technology is ubiquitous and its ability to create and foster tiny niches is separating us from each other. And it is SO easy to get obsessed chasing every connection and driving ourselves crazy that everyone else seems to be doing so much better than we are.
And Evie's "aha" moment over the keyboard was epically tragicomic.
However, one of the cornerstones of the story is Evie's relationship with her grandmother Bette, or more obviously, Evie's relationship with Bette's desire to see her married, and if possible to a "nice Jewish boy", albeit a grown up one. Evie is 34 at the beginning of the book, a boy would be a bit young.
But the cultural markers that define Bette, her use of Yiddish in an attempt to weed out the goyim, the extreme way that she wields guilt, all seem as if they belong to an earlier generation. Bette acts and sounds like someone from my own grandmother's generation, but I'm more contemporary with Evie's mother.
The guilt-tripping Jewish mother/grandmother is a stereotype that while funny and even endearing for those of us who had one, seems a bit dated. While it is true that in this story, Evie would be happier if she found the right person, the drumbeat that she must at all costs gets a bit wearing.
What was more interesting was Evie's internal conflict, that she always wants what she can't have, to the point where it almost costs her what she really wants. Again, she has an "aha" moment that is slightly tragic and slightly funny, and also nearly results in more vomit.
Evie is person who lost someone important to her, her father, at a relatively young age, and is afraid to let herself love again out of fear that she will lose again. So she keeps fixing herself on the unattainable, in the impossible hope that she won't get hurt again. Except that she does, and she hurts herself most of all.
When she finally gets it all together, it's cathartic both for Evie and for the reader. But after Evie's life balancing and society rejecting year of eschewing technology for real connections, I wish that her happiness had embraced some elements that weren't totally traditional.
Which does not mean that I didn't enjoy following Evie's journey to her authentic happiness. Because I certainly did.
~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~
The publisher is graciously providing one copy of Love and Miss Communication to one lucky winner. To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter below.
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
Posted in B Reviews, blog tours, book reviews, GiveawaysTagged book giveaway, chick lit, Elyssa Friedland, TLC Book Tours, William Morrow, women's fiction★ 7 Comments ★
Review: The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
Genre: historical fiction, literary fiction, women's fiction
Publisher: Crown
Date Released: May 5, 2015
When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad's leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can't bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.
Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers a porcelain head hidden in the root cellar—the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance.
Ingeniously plotted to a riveting end, Sarah and Eden's woven lives connect the past to the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way.
The lives of two women, 150 years apart, tied together by a doll's head. And a little bit of mystery.
The two women at the center of this intertwined story wouldn't seem to have much in common. And they don't except for an accident of place and a misfortune of circumstance – both Sarah Brown and Eden Anderson are childless, and not by choice.
They are both caught in the position of making a fulfilling life for themselves that does not fit the standard pattern, and both find themselves mothering children not theirs by birth. They also both occupy the same house, at very different points in time.
Sarah Brown was the daughter of revolutionary abolitionist John Brown. History remembers him for his famous (or infamous) raid on the Federal Armory at Harper's Ferry (West) Virginia in the fall of 1859. The raid was an attempt to start a slave uprising and help the slaves to free themselves. Brown was either ahead of history or a catalyst for it, and was hanged when his raid failed ignominiously. His sons and most of the others who participated were either killed in the raid or hanged afterwards.
Sarah Brown, along with her mother and sisters, were left behind when Brown died. Sarah, too, was an abolitionist, and was also an artist who drew maps on anything handy in order to assist runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad.
Some of those "handy things" were dolls' faces, and it is one of Sarah's doll heads that Eden Anderson finds in the root cellar under her new home in New Charlestown, West Virginia in 2010. The search for the history of that poor little head, and the house surrounding it, become the catalyst for Eden's healing after the final ending of her hopes for a baby.
At the beginning of Eden's story, it also seems possible that the house will witness the end of her marriage, as strained and cracked as it is after many years of failed attempts, failed hopes, failed dreams, and fertility hormone-induced moodiness and finally depression.
Her husband Adam brings her a dog. The dog brings a little girl to take care of him, and most importantly, a reason to get out of the house and to let other people in. And Cricket brings his loving self and his need for a forever home, no matter how brief his forever might turn out to be.
Escape Rating B+: I really enjoyed this story, but I can't point to a specific reason. I just did. The two parts don't gel until the very end, and the switches between Sarah's story in the past and Eden's in the present sometimes felt abrupt. At the same time, I liked and felt for both women, and no matter which story I was in, I always wanted to know how the other one was doing.
Both women are in the middle of lives that need rebuilding. In Sarah's case, that rebuilding is frequent and often, due to circumstances outside her control. From the moment her father leaves to conduct his famous raid, until the Fisher children arrive at her home in California, Sarah keeps dealing with blows that strike her from all sides.
At the same time, she takes a licking and keeps on ticking right up until the very end, making a new life each and every time she is struck down. Much of her life in this story moves in the direction it does (and did in history) because in fiction, at least, she was declared to be unable to bear children after a near-fatal attack of dysentery.
In history, she did not marry or have children, but the reasons are lost to us.
Sarah really did paint maps for the Underground Railroad, but whether she used doll's heads for her maps is not certain. In this story one doll's head provides a much-needed link to Eden in our present.
While Sarah seems like a heroic figure, Eden starts out her story as a self-absorbed and self-centered depressed wreck. All of her attempts to conceive a child have failed, and her IVF clinic has told her that it's over. After 7 years of fertility treatments and failed hopes, she has given up everything that she was in pursuit of something that will never be, and she feels like she has nothing left.
The dog her husband brings home, Cricket, slowly brings her back to life, an irony that is not apparent until the very end. Because Cricket needs care, and her husband, out of a desire to help her and keep her from reaching past her current constricted boundaries, has given her not just a dog but a person to care for the dog.
Eleven-year-old Cleo needs just as much care as Cricket, but is much, much less willing to admit it. But Cleo is an incredible little girl who stirs up everything in her wake, and in that stirring, Eden comes back to life. She begins to reach out to the life she now has, instead of reaching back to the one she gave up or the child she will never have. And in that reaching out, she finds the world again.
It's not so much Eden's reawakening that brings the joy, as Cleo's fascinating ability to make it happen. It all starts with Cleo's amateur investigation into the mysterious doll's head that Cricket finds in the root cellar, a search that ties Eden back to the town, and ties her house and its history all the way back to Sarah Brown. And all the way forward into the life of a place that Eden has come to love.
Posted in B Reviews, blog tours, book reviewsTagged Crown Publishing, historical fiction, literary fiction, Sarah McCoy, TLC Book Tours, women's fiction★ 3 Comments ★
Review: Murder and Mayhem by Rhys Ford
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Genre: M/M Romantic Suspense
Series: Murder and Mayhem #1
Date Released: June 5, 2015
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
Dead women tell no tales.
Former cat burglar Rook Stevens stole many a priceless thing in the past, but he's never been accused of taking a life—until now. It was one thing to find a former associate inside Potter's Field, his pop culture memorabilia shop, but quite another to stumble across her dead body.
Detective Dante Montoya thought he'd never see Rook Stevens again—not after his former partner'd falsified evidence to entrap the jewelry thief and Stevens walked off scot-free. So when he tackled a fleeing murder suspect, Dante was shocked to discover the blood-covered man was none other than the thief he'd fought to put in prison and who still made his blood sing.
Rook is determined to shake loose the murder charge against him, even if it means putting distance between him and the rugged Cuban-Mexican detective who brought him down. If one dead con artist wasn't bad enough, others soon follow, and as the bodies pile up around Rook's feet, he's forced to reach out to the last man he'd expect to believe in his innocence—and the only man who's ever gotten under Rook's skin.
So I'm a little early with this review. Sue me. I absolutely love both Rhys' Cole McGinnis and Hellsinger series, so when she offered me a review copy of Murder and Mayhem, it was off to the races and on my schedule.
While this is the first book in a new series, I can't help wondering if it doesn't tie into Cole McGinnis' life just a bit. One of the cops refers to his former partner as Dawson, and if that doesn't turn out to be Bobby Dawson, I'll eat my non-existent hat.
The concept for this story combines a couple of classic ideas. One is the story of a former thief turned legit. It's not that Rook Martin has forgotten any of his old skills, or his old friends, but that he has finally decided to put down roots and make a real life for himself where he doesn't have to hide in the shadows.
He's still working on convincing himself that everything he has earned on the legally straight and narrow adds up to a life that he deserves. Partly because he's been a thief and a carny for so long, and partly because while he may be legally straight, sexually he's anything but.
The author has also mixed in a cop and crook romance, even though Rook is now a former crook. Dante Montoya and his late partner lost their way trying to pin the last of Rook's second-story jobs on him. While Rook did the crimes, he was always very good at sliding out from under the legal consequences.
Dante's partner went very much to the dark side in order to plant evidence and get Rook convicted. Instead, the late Vince got all the charges thrown out and ended his career dishonorably. The worst part was that he nearly took Dante's career out with his own.
Actually, that turns out to be the second worst part.
So Dante has been a homicide cop with a shadow over his career and a secret that jumps up to bite him. Literally.
Dante is gay. That's no secret. The secret is that he nearly had an almost anonymous club encounter with one thief. Dante has a yen for Rook Martin that he has never been able to get out of his system.
And very much vice versa.
When the dead body of one of his late enemies turns up at Rook's collectibles shop, sliced to bits and covered in blood, Rook finds himself in the middle of a shootout, as the cops mistake a Wookie in the window for an armed assailant. When the former thief runs for his life, he finds himself taken down by the cop he's never lost a taste for.
Unfortunately for Rook, someone is trying to frame him for murder, and those hits just keep on coming. Fortunately for Rook, he begins to trust Dante enough to keep his abused body and eventually his equally abused heart safe from someone who obviously intends to wipe Rook from the face of the earth in any way that they can.
As Rook and Dante trace the strands of Rook's former life to figure out who hates him so much that they don't just want to kill him, but seemingly want to absolutely obliterate him and anyone close to him, they get the chance to explore the chemistry between them.
For the first time, they are both more-or-less on the same side of the law. The question is whether they can both stay there, and alive, long enough to reach for each other for keeps. And if Rook even has a chance at "for keeps".
Escape Rating B+: It took a little while for this story to get going, in spite of starting in the middle of what felt like the gunfight at the not-so-OK Corral. We don't know why Rook is running, or even initially who he's running from.
And we need a little background to figure out why Rook is so shy of the cops, and why the cops are so ready to shoot him first and ask him questions later. Or never.
The tension between Dante and Rook steams off the page from the first moment that Dante finds Rook under him in the street, as he's putting on the handcuffs. That tension never lets up, and it helps the story take flight.
As Rook nearly does on more than one occasion.
There is a lot of tension of all kinds in this story. There's the obvious sexual tension between Dante and Rook. They both desperately want to explore their chemistry and know that any exploration is a really bad idea. Dante is, after all, a cop, and a cop who has a history of investigating Rook for a crime that Rook really did commit. Now Dante is investigating Rook again, but this time for a crime that screams set up from the very beginning. Once Rook is cleared, a relationship between them is still a bad idea, just less bad.
Rook doesn't believe that he's worth having a relationship with anyone, but all the people in his life conspire to make him finally consider that he is worth loving. Not just Dante, but Rook's very old and extremely wealthy grandfather has recently discovered that Rook exists, and even better, that he is a chip off the old block.
Rook's other relatives are furious, and his grandfather is furiously funny about the whole thing. But it also throws into the mix Rook's desire not to get tied down or held back, and his grandfather's attempt to control Rook, which is mostly born out of a desire to keep Rook safe. They butt heads repeatedly, and there are times when peace between them seems far away. But they need each other, and have a terrible time expressing it.
On the other side, Dante has been rejected by his Catholic Hispanic/Latino family, and has made his peace with that. He's also taking care of his uncle Manny, who is also gay and has also been rejected by their family. They've made their own family and are pretty happy with their choices. Manny just wants to adopt Rook right alongside Dante. The family relationship that Manny and Rook eventually develop is heartwarming, sweet and often hilarious.
Then there's the case. Although some readers figured out whodunnit before the end, I'll confess to not being one of them. As we meet more and more of Rook's former associates, we (and Dante) get a clear picture that Rook truly has gone legit, and even more, that he's doing his best to pay back everyone who helped him and anyone who sincerely needs a hand getting out of the life. He's become a good man, but he's clinging to one last stash from his old life that someone feels entitled to a piece of. Or all of. And is willing to leave a trail of bodies in their wake in order to get it.
While I didn't totally buy that person's motivations, the way that they went about their road to riches and revenge gave me chills and had me flipping pages fast to discover whether or not everyone escaped mostly intact.
I am definitely looking forward to more in this series. Ex-thief and righteous cop make a fantastic detective duo.
Posted in B Reviews, book reviewsTagged Dreamspinner Press, M/M romance, Murder and Mayhem, Rhys Ford, romantic suspense
Review: Beyond Galaxy's Edge by Anna Hackett
Format read: ebook purchased from Amazon
Formats available: ebook
Genre: science fiction romance
Series: Phoenix Adventures #5
Publisher: Anna Hackett
Date Released: December 13, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
A sexy smuggler + a spit-and-polish Patrol captain = a fast-paced, adventure-filled sci fi romance
Ambitious Patrol Captain Nissa Sander has spent three years at the galaxy's edge keeping the law and order, and chasing scoundrel smuggler, Justyn Phoenix. But the charming rogue has always outwitted her and she's had a hard time ignoring his hard body and handsome face. But when one of the galaxy's most important documents—the US Constitution—is stolen, Nissa finds herself working with the very man she's been trying to throw in her brig.
Justyn Phoenix embraces life and offers everyone a wink and a smile. He's also in love with a spit-and-polish Patrol captain. Yep, crazy in love, and he knows she'll never love him back. But when the opportunity arises to work alongside Nissa on a wild and crazy mission to recover the US Constitution, he can't resist.
But nothing on this treasure hunt is as it seems. The trail leads them to fake documents, rival treasure hunters, and a millennia old mystery. As the hunt takes them beyond the galaxy's edge, Justyn and Nissa will face the firestorm of their desire, and soon learn if they can survive long enough to save the galaxy.
If you want a rollicking good time of an SFR series, you absolutely can't go wrong with Anna Hackett's Phoenix Adventures. I love this entire series – it's a terrific blend of sci-fi adventure with hot and heart-stopping romance.
The Phoenixes of the Phoenix Adventures are two sets of good looking rogues who are the opposite sides of one galaxy-spanning family. Brothers Dathan, Zayn and Niklas Phoenix operate a successful relic hunting company on the slightly more settled side of the galaxy, and their cousins Dare, Rynan and Justyn (also brothers) operate an equally successful but slightly less famous convoy-leading company (and smuggling business) out on the galaxy's edge.
This is Justyn's story, and it is quite a wild ride. Because Justyn the smuggler finds himself on a dangerous treasure hunt. And it's all a very elaborate ploy. Justyn isn't nearly as interested in the artifact he's chasing as he is in the Galactic Security Services Captain who is chasing it.
Justyn has spent years putting himself in the way of Captain Nissa Sander. She never manages to find his contraband cargo, no matter how many times she stops and searches his ship. She's completely unwilling to admit to herself that her encounters with Justyn are the high point of her job. She keeps fooling herself that a stellar career in Galactic Security Services is all she wants. And she's damn good at it. But it isn't what she wants for herself. It's what she tells herself she wants in order to please her demanding father, a career GSS officer who never quite made it to the big leagues.
Justyn keeps letting Nissa catch him. He just makes sure she never catches him with anything he shouldn't have. His ship has way more hidey-holes than Nissa will ever find. So he lets her keep finding him over and over, just so that he can see her. And tease her a bit. He knows that he's not what she wants or deserves, but he can't resist arranging those few minutes in her company.
They both believe that they will always be on opposite sides of a very high fence of legalities. Until someone breaks into a museum and steals one of the founding documents of interstellar law and democracy – the U.S. Constitution from old (meaning our) Earth.
The treasure hunt gets even more complicated when they chase down the thief – only to find out that the document he stole was a forgery – created almost a thousand years ago. Does the real Constitution even survive?
Nissa is tasked by her commanding officer to find the real constitution, if it exists, and deliver it to the admiral personally, and at any or all costs. The Phoenix brothers (both sets) enlist the aid of any family and friends they have to track the course of the ship originally carrying the Constitution, and trace it beyond the galaxy edge, outside the confines of civilized space.
Nissa has no jurisdiction beyond the edge, only a powerful motivation to protect her career and especially her father's pension from the admiral's machinations. But just as they get close, Nissa discovers that the superiors she has always relied on cannot be trusted. The only people she can count on are the Phoenix brothers who are out there with her. And especially Justyn.
When all hell breaks loose, and Justyn and Nissa finally find themselves on the same side. For once. And possibly forever.
Escape Rating A-: This was a terrific adventure. It had all the elements that made At Star's End so much fun. Nissa is working for the forces of law and order, just as Eos planned to turn the relics she was hunting over to the Galactic Institute. Both Nissa and Eos were betrayed by the people who should have been on their side. And most importantly, neither Dathan nor Justyn were anywhere near as bad as their reputations were cracked up to be.
Not that Justyn isn't a smuggler, because he is. But he seems to do it either mostly for sport, and teasing Nissa, or because he's turning most of the profits over to an array of charities he supports on various convoy-stopover planets. He's a little bit Robin Hood. He also mostly just carries small luxury items, like cigars or fancy booze. Nothing big, nothing worth killing over.
And he really likes to torment Nissa with the possibility of catching him.
Except for his unwillingness to admit that he's been in love with Nissa for years, Justyn knows exactly what he's doing.
Nissa, on the other hand, is kind of a mess. She's a great GSS officer, but her heart isn't in it. Her father cuts her to ribbons every single time they talk, and he's always pressuring her about something. Basically, daddy is re-living his own career through Nissa, and her opinions generally don't matter. She should be old enough to know better, but she seems to be conditioned to obedience, which really bites her in the ass when the admiral both bribes and blackmails her at the same time.
It was fairly obvious to this reader who the really evil person is in this mess. Nissa should have figured it out a hell of a lot sooner – it would have saved everyone a world of hurt. Of course, if she had, this story wouldn't contain nearly as much edge-of-the-seat excitement, and our hero and heroine wouldn't have been forced into close proximity so often that they were forced to acknowledge their mutual feelings.
Those two had enough frustrated chemistry to light the rocket boosters all by themselves. When they finally get close, its explosive.
Originally published at Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly
Posted in A Reviews, book reviewsTagged Anna Hackett, Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly, science fiction romance, The Phoenix Adventures
Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It is officially celebrated the last Monday in May, and is a federal holiday to honor and remember the people who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
The holiday, originally known as Decoration Day, began as a way of remembering those killed in the Civil War. And the custom was to decorate cemeteries where those who had fallen in that war were buried.
Today, the holiday commemorates all those who have died in uniform, whenever, wherever and however they served.
The picture above is from Duluth, Georgia, where I currently live. Every year, the week before Memorial Day, the town lines all the major roads with crosses, commemorating the sons and daughters of the town who served and fell.
As you can see from the picture, that service spans all the wars since the town of Duluth received its charter in 1876. This picture is the first time I've seen one of the crosses for someone who served in Iraq, but I wasn't surprised to find one. I'm pretty sure that I have seen crosses for those who served in the Spanish-American War in 1898. I have also found crosses for female soldiers. Not many, but they are there.
What continues to surprise me is that I have seen only crosses. No Stars of David. No Star and Crescents. No symbols to represent Hinduism or Buddhism. And I can't help but wonder, were all the people who served from this community Christian? Did no one of any other faith, or none, come from this place to serve their country? And if not, why not?
Or has their service been forgotten?
Memorial Day is the day that we remember ALL of those who gave their lives for this country, no matter who they prayed to, or if they prayed at all, before they fell.
Posted in Holidays, Memorial DayTagged Duluth Georgia, Memorial Day★ 1 Comment ★
In the U.S. this is the Memorial Day weekend. A lot of people, including us, are visiting friends or relatives or just plain taking advantage of the three-day weekend.
But there was a last week on the blog, and there will be a next week, so there is still a need for a Sunday recap. The world will, after all, return to normal on Tuesday, whether we like it or not.
$25 Gift Card + an ebook copy of The Case of the Invisible Dog by Diane Stingley
3 copies of The Curse of Anne Boleyn by C.C. Humphreys
A- Review: Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer
B+ Review: The Curse of Anne Boleyn by C.C. Humphreys + Giveaway
B- Review: The Case of the Invisible Dog by Diane Stingley + Giveaway
B Review: The Way of the Warrior by Suzanne Brockmann and others
B+ Review: Echo 8 by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Beyond Galaxy's Edge by Anna Hackett (review)
Murder and Mayhem by Rhys Ford (review)
The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy (blog tour review)
Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland (blog tour review)
Posted in Giveaways, The Sunday Post, Virtual NightstandTagged historical fiction, M/M romance, military romance, mystery, science fiction romance, TBR★ 1 Comment ★
As the days get longer, the stacks seem to get shorter. I wonder why?
Even though I don't have a lot this week, I do have one book that I've been looking forward to since last year: The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny. Her Inspector Gamache series is one of my all-time favorites. When I read last year's book, The Long Way Home, I could see where she might be ending the series at that point. Gamache was retired, he wouldn't necessarily have more cases to solve. But I am so, so grateful that he does.
If you love a good, deep, character driven mystery, this series is a treat from beginning to end, starting with Still Life and hopefully not ending for a long time to come.
Gabe (Hell Squad #3) by Anna Hackett
Mad About the Major (Bachelor Chronicles #8.5) by Elizabeth Boyle
The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Gamache #11) by Louise Penny
Protecting Her Heart (Jorda #3) by Nicole Murphy
Solar Express by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Ten Billion Tomorrows by Brian Clegg
Geoducks are for Lovers (Modern Love Story #1) by Daisy Prescott
Posted in Stacking the ShelvesTagged contemporary romance, historical romance, mystery, nonfiction, science fiction, science fiction romance, TBR★ 2 Comments ★
Review: Echo 8 by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Publisher: Tor Books
Date Released: February 3, 2015
Three lives. Two worlds. One chance to save them all.
As a parapsychologist working for Seattle Psi, Tess has devoted her life to studying psychic phenomena. But when doppelgangers begin appearing from a parallel world that's been struck by an asteroid, nothing in her training will help her survive what's to come.
After dislocating to Seattle Psi from the other Earth, Jake is confined by a special task force for study. But when he drains life energy from Tess, almost killing her, it causes a ripple effect across two worlds — and creates a bond neither of them expected.
Ross is an FBI agent ordered to protect Tess while she studies Jake. His assignment is not random — he and Tess have a history, and a connection the Bureau hopes to use to its own advantage. By the time Ross realizes his mission could be compromised, it's already too late — he'll have to choose between his love for Tess and his duty to protect the people of his own Earth.
Echo 8 takes place in multiple alternate versions of Seattle, some of them better off than our own, and some much, much worse. But all close analogs. If you have read anything about the parallel universes theory, even fictional versions thereof, you'll understand exactly what I mean.
The story takes place in a very near future: it's only 2018 in this world. Which means that it is also an alternate to our own, because the Seattle Center Tower (AKA The Space Needle) has fallen in theirs, and here, it's still up and very much a landmark of the city. (It's on everything. I've even seen Chocolate Towers)
But the former Colman School is a former school in all the 'verses. In ours, it's now the Northwest African American Museum. In theirs, it's the home of the Seattle Psi Institute. And the SPI (cool initialism) is studying a phenomenon called "Echoes". Echoes are people from a parallel universe who wind up in ours by accident. Part of that accident is that their version of the Earth suffered a huge asteroid strike, and they died. Instead of going wherever it is the dead normally go, they come here. And then they die anyway, cut off from their home universe's source of energy.
I'm not sure which is scarier – that when they arrive here they are energy vampires, or that no one has tried to talk to one of them to figure out what the hell is going on. But then, the various government security forces are treating these people, the Echoes (also called fades because well, they eventually do) as enemies and security threats. There is a lot of "shoot first and ask questions later" going on. With the added fun factor that sometimes the Echoes are too faded to shoot – the bullets go right through.
Also a bit of "torture first and let them die" going on. The security services are not treating the Echoes as displaced persons – they are just a threat. Admittedly the trail of sucked dry dead bodies they leave in their wake does urge caution.
Only the scientists want to find out the whys and wherefores of the Echoes. They see (sometimes they don't exactly see) people. Admittedly, people they want to experiment on a bit, but still people.
Tess Caulfield is a psychologist and parapsychologist at the Seattle Psi Institute. And the FBI has brought her an Echo to talk to. The FBI calls him "Echo 8", because he's the eighth Echo they have captured. Tess finds out his name is Jake.
Tess and Jake find a way to communicate. He needs energy to survive in our world. She needs answers. And poor Jake, stuck between universes, finally finds someone he can love. But never touch. In her world, he sucks the energy from her every time they are in close proximity. In his world, the shoe is on the other foot and Tess can't touch him.
But theirs is not the love story that weaves around this book. That is the relationship between Tess and the FBI agent who is assigned as her bodyguard (and minder). Ross McGinnis has talents of his own, talents that he has suppressed. Ross is disillusioned when he discovers that the FBI's plan is to use him, Tess and the Echoes for missions that Congress would not approve of, missions that will tear the soul out of anyone who performs them.
Tess and Jake go on the run, with disastrous results. Ross sucks it up and does his job, until he
discovers that his career in the FBI is not worth his life, his sanity, or especially his love for Tess. And that the force he signed up with is not the one he is now working for. But before everything can be straightened out, he will have to take a trip to the dark side, of his job, of his soul, and to the other Earth that has been ripped in two.
Whether he can make it back from all that is a big risk – with a big reward if he can figure out his demons. And if Tess can let go of hers.
Escape Rating B+: There was a point about 2/3s of the way through where I almost stopped reading – the story got very dark and it looked like no one was going to get a happy ending out of this one. Or even an ending where someone doesn't turn completely to the dark side of the Force. (Don't worry, things do get brighter). I felt for the characters so much that I didn't want to see anything terrible (or at least terribly permanent) happen to them.
Although Echo 8 is being talked about as a love triangle, it really isn't. Jake may be what Tess would have chosen if her world hadn't gone completely off the rails, but it did and he isn't. And he does seem to be mistaking a bit of his gratitude for love, but Tess is the first person who has cared about him at all in a long time.
Ross is much more of a puzzle. Tess and Ross have a lot of chemistry that both of them are trying to ignore. He distrusts her work – because he's always had a niggling feeling that his excellent hunches might be more than just hunches. And he doesn't want to know, because it will change his view of the world.
Ross is very obvious about his skepticism, and Tess is definitely hostile with him. He denigrates her profession at every turn. No one would want to put up with that. She also resents having a bodyguard, and she is sure (correctly) that the FBI's agenda is not hers, and she doesn't like the idea of someone she can't trust watching her every move.
The story surrounds Tess, Ross and Jake, and their collective attempt to find a way not just to communicate with the Echoes, but to work together for the collective good. Jake is initially just selfish, and Ross has very divided loyalties, but they all have to find a way to figure things out. There are a lot more Echoes around our world than anyone guesses, and the count of mysterious dead bodies is climbing everywhere. The security services have kept things under wraps until now, but that can't last.
We all know of people who seem to suck our energy out of us, but how do you find common ground with someone who literally can – and will die if they don't? It makes things more interesting (and darker) that one character is a soul sucker of one kind or another whichever world he's on.
Echo 8 is mostly of the laboratory-type of SF. Tess is a researcher, and the story turns on the number of ways that her research can be subverted, and how badly.
As a former Seattleite, it was also fun to get the science-fictional tour of different versions of the city. I loved the twisted sense of deja vu.
Posted in B Reviews, book reviewsTagged Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly, science fiction romance, Seattle, Sharon Lynn Fisher, Tor Books


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The Rough Guide to Dordogne & the Lot
Author : Jan Dodd
Publisher : Rough Guides UK
Summary Book Review The Rough Guide to Dordogne & the Lot :
Download or read book in PDF The Rough Guide to Dordogne & the Lot written by Jan Dodd and published by Rough Guides UK. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Rough Guide to the Dordogne and the Lot is the ultimate handbook for discovering the region, from its spectacular limestone caves to the fairytale ch�teau of Najac. Discover walks and cycle trails to ancient cliffs and peaceful riverbanks, and stop off at world-famous vineyards. Foodies will enjoy a full-colour section on A taste of P�rigord, sharing the best of the region's world-renowned cuisine, while readers are directed to the finest restaurants and water-side caf�s, not to mention festivals and local markets. Whether you're looking for the best campsites or the most stylish hotels, you can rely on accommodation suggestions for every budget and taste. You'll find practical advice on travelling around the region, from boat tours to rail services, relying on the clearest maps of any guide. Explore all corners of this region with authoritative background information on everything from the region's varied landscapes and wildlife to its fascinating history and cultural heritage. Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to the Dordogne and the Lot.
The Rough Guide to Dordogne & the Lot (Travel Guide eBook)
Author : Rough Guides
Publisher : Apa Publications (UK) Limited
Summary Book Review The Rough Guide to Dordogne & the Lot (Travel Guide eBook) :
Download or read book in PDF The Rough Guide to Dordogne & the Lot (Travel Guide eBook) written by Rough Guides and published by Apa Publications (UK) Limited. This book was released on 2022-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Rough Guide to the Dordogne and the Lot Make the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides. World-renowned 'tell it like it is' travel guide. Discover Dordogne and the Lot with this comprehensive and entertaining travel guide, packed with practical information and honest recommendations by our independent experts. Whether you plan to visit deep cave formations resplendent with prehistoric art, marvel at cliff-edge castles or sample one of the many truffle-toting restaurants, The Rough Guide to the Dordogne and the Lot will help you discover the best places to explore, eat, drink, shop and sleep along the way. Features of this travel guide to the Dordogne and the Lot: - Detailed regional coverage: provides practical information for every kind of trip, from off-the-beaten-track adventures to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas - Honest and independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, our writers will help you make the most from your trip to Dordogne and the Lot - Meticulous mapping: practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Bergerac, Cahors and many more locations without needing to get online - Fabulous full-colour photography: features inspirational colour photography, including the Parc Naturel Régional des Causses du Quercy, with its swathes of wild limestone plateau, and the intriguing maze of medieval lanes that make up Sarlat-la Canéda - Time-saving itineraries: carefully planned routes will help inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences - Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of the best sights and top experiences to be found in Monpazier, Cordes-sur-Ciel and St-Cirq Lapopie - Travel tips and info: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more - Background information: comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter provides fascinating insights into Dordogne and the Lot, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary - Covers: Périgueux and the north, Bergerac and around, Sarlat and the Périgord Noir, the Upper Dordogne valley and Rocamadour, the Lot valley and around, south of the River Lot You may also be interested in: Rough Guides to France, Languedoc & Roussillon and Provence & the Côte d'Azur About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.
Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story
Author : D. T. Max
Publisher : Penguin
Summary Book Review Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story :
Download or read book in PDF Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story written by D. T. Max and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed New York Times–bestselling biography and "emotionally detailed portrait of the artist as a young man" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times) In the first biography of the iconic David Foster Wallace, D.T. Max paints the portrait of a man, self-conscious, obsessive and struggling to find meaning. If Wallace was right when he declared he was "frightfully and thoroughly conventional," it is only because over the course of his short life and stunning career, he wrestled intimately and relentlessly with the fundamental anxiety of being human. In his characteristic lucid and quick-witted style, Max untangles Wallace's anxious sense of self, his volatile and sometimes abusive connection with women, and above all, his fraught relationship with fiction as he emerges with his masterpiece Infinite Jest. Written with the cooperation of Wallace's family and friends and with access to hundreds of unpublished letters, manuscripts and journals, this captivating biography unveils the life of the profoundly complicated man who gave voice to what we thought we could not say.
Chambers's Encyclopædia
ISBN : HARVARD:HN518S
Summary Book Review Chambers's Encyclopædia :
Download or read book in PDF Chambers's Encyclopædia written by and published by . This book was released on 1868 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author : Rony Blum
Summary Book Review Ghost Brothers :
Download or read book in PDF Ghost Brothers written by Rony Blum and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2005 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rony Blum explores how "phantom-mediated" interpretations of the past and present were key to the uniquely successful relationship that developed between French settlers and Natives in the Americas."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What Beckoning Ghost
Author : Douglas G. Browne
Publisher : Dover Publications
Summary Book Review What Beckoning Ghost :
Download or read book in PDF What Beckoning Ghost written by Douglas G. Browne and published by Dover Publications. This book was released on 1986 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Life and Food in the Dordogne
Author : James Bentley
Publisher : New Amsterdam Books
Summary Book Review Life and Food in the Dordogne :
Download or read book in PDF Life and Food in the Dordogne written by James Bentley and published by New Amsterdam Books. This book was released on 2004-01-28 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the centuries, the Dordogne has cherished a tradition of fine cuisine that is framed throughout France, and the region has produced a disproportionate number of France's finest chefs: Brillat-Savarin, Caréme, Escoffier, André Noel and, in our own times, Marcel Boulestin. Moreover, the culinary skills found on the farms and in town households are not far removed from the gastronomic secrets of the finest restaurants. Historical and personal anecdotes abound in this rare book, rich in recipes, and full of insight and observation. Food is discussed at great length, and the recipes special to this part of France symbolize to the people of Perigord the traditional skills and patterns of life, a permanent way of looking at the world and its gifts. James Bentley has a house in the Dordogne, and spends a good part of each year there. His many books include travel guides to the Dordogne, the Loire, and Tuscany, and the Blue Guide to West Germany and Berlin.
Author : Patrick Turnbull
Publisher : B.T. Batsford
Summary Book Review Dordogne :
Download or read book in PDF Dordogne written by Patrick Turnbull and published by B.T. Batsford. This book was released on 1979 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
The Companion Guide to Gascony and the Dordogne
Author : Richard Barber
Publisher : Companion Guides
Summary Book Review The Companion Guide to Gascony and the Dordogne :
Download or read book in PDF The Companion Guide to Gascony and the Dordogne written by Richard Barber and published by Companion Guides. This book was released on 1999 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The guide for the traveller as opposed to the tourist: the person for whom the history of the region and its reflection in landscape, buildings and culture are the essence of travel.
Ghosts in the Neighborhood
Author : Walter Hatch
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Summary Book Review Ghosts in the Neighborhood :
Download or read book in PDF Ghosts in the Neighborhood written by Walter Hatch and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2023-01-10 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Germany, which brutalized its neighbors in Europe for centuries, has mostly escaped the ghosts of the past, while Japan remains haunted in Asia. The most common explanation for this difference is that Germany knows better how to apologize; Japan is viewed as "impenitent." Walter F. Hatch rejects the conventional wisdom and argues that Germany has achieved reconciliation with neighbors by showing that it can be a trustworthy partner in regional institutions like the European Union and NATO; Japan has never been given that opportunity (by its dominant partner, the U.S.) to demonstrate such an ability to cooperate. This book rigorously defends the argument that political cooperation—not discourse or economic exchange—best explains Germany's relative success and Japan's relative failure in achieving reconciliation with neighbors brutalized by each regional power in the past. It uses paired case studies (Germany-France and Japan-South Korea; Germany-Poland and Japan-China) to gauge the effect of these competing variables on public opinion over time. With numerous charts, each of the four empirical chapters illustrates the powerful causal relationship between institution building and interstate reconciliation.
Fodor's Dordogne & the Best of Southwest France
Author : Fodor's
Publisher : Fodor's Travel
Summary Book Review Fodor's Dordogne & the Best of Southwest France :
Download or read book in PDF Fodor's Dordogne & the Best of Southwest France written by Fodor's and published by Fodor's Travel. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get inspired and plan your next trip with Fodor's ebook travel guide to Dordogne and Southwest France (including Bordeaux, the Basque Country, and Paris with highlights in between). Intelligent Planning: Discover all of the essential, up-to-date travel insights you expect in a Fodor's guide, including Fodor's Choice dining and lodging, top experiences and attractions, and detailed planning advice. Easy Navigation for E-Readers: Whether you're reading this ebook from start to finish or jumping from chapter to chapter as you develop your itinerary, Fodor's makes it easy to find the information you need with a single touch. In addition to a traditional main table of contents for the ebook, each chapter opens with its own table of contents, making it easy to browse. Full-Color Photos and Maps: It's hard not to fall in love with Southwest France as you flip through a vivid full-color photo album. Explore the layout of city centers and popular neighborhoods with easy-to-read full-color maps. Plus get an overview of French geography with the convenient atlas at the end of the ebook. What's Covered? Get to Know Dordogne and the Best of Southwest France: One of the hottest destinations in France, the Dordogne is a stone-cottage pastoral studded with fairy-tale castles, storybook villages, and France's top prehistoric sights. The wines of Bordeaux are the standard against which others are measured. They've made the city rich and the owners of its vineyards, like Château Mouton-Rothschild, even richer. The Basque Country will put you under its spell, whether you head for Bay of Biscay resorts like Biarritz, coastal villages such as St-Jean-De-Luz, or the Pyrenean peaks. No trip to France would be complete without a stop in Paris. A quayside vista that takes in the Seine, a passing boat, Notre-Dame, the Eiffel tower, and mansard roofs all in one generous sweep is enough to convince you that this is indeed the most beautiful city on Earth. Note: This ebook edition includes photographs and maps that will appear on black-and-white devices but are optimized for devices that support full-color images.
The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints
Summary Book Review The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints :
Download or read book in PDF The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints written by Library of Congress and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Michelin Dordogne, Périgord-Limousin
Author : Manufacture française des pneumatiques Michelin
Summary Book Review Michelin Dordogne, Périgord-Limousin :
Download or read book in PDF Michelin Dordogne, Périgord-Limousin written by Manufacture française des pneumatiques Michelin and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Memoirs, journal, and correspondence, ed. by lord J. Russell
Author : Thomas Moore
Summary Book Review Memoirs, journal, and correspondence, ed. by lord J. Russell :
Download or read book in PDF Memoirs, journal, and correspondence, ed. by lord J. Russell written by Thomas Moore and published by . This book was released on 1856 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Summary Book Review Notes and Queries :
Download or read book in PDF Notes and Queries written by and published by . This book was released on 1866 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
God and Gold
Author : Walter Russell Mead
Publisher : Vintage
Summary Book Review God and Gold :
Download or read book in PDF God and Gold written by Walter Russell Mead and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-10-14 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunningly insightful account of the global political and economic system, sustained first by Britain and now by America, that has created the modern world. The key to the two countries' predominance, Mead argues, lies in the individualistic ideology inherent in the Anglo-American religion. Over the years Britain and America's liberal democratic system has been repeatedly challeged—by Catholic Spain and Louis XIV, the Nazis, communists, and Al Qaeda—and for the most part, it has prevailed. But the current conflicts in the Middle East threaten to change that record unless we foster a deeper understanding of the conflicts between the liberal world system and its foes.
The English dialect dictionary, being the complete vocabulary of all dialect words still in use, or known to have been in use during the last two hundred years
Author : Joseph Wright
Publisher : Рипол Классик
Summary Book Review The English dialect dictionary, being the complete vocabulary of all dialect words still in use, or known to have been in use during the last two hundred years :
Download or read book in PDF The English dialect dictionary, being the complete vocabulary of all dialect words still in use, or known to have been in use during the last two hundred years written by Joseph Wright and published by Рипол Классик. This book was released on 1905 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
The Chocolate Money
Bloody Rose (The Band, #2)
La oscura historia de la prima Montse
The Endless Forest (Wilderness, #6)
Why Mermaids Sing (Sebastian St. Cyr, #3)
Coming Storm
In the Forests of the Night
A Modern Witch (A Modern Witch, #1)
The Empire (The Empire #1)
Gaebrel's Gamble (The Nine Suns, #1)
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
Rumpole for the Defence
Drowned Tomb (The Changeling, #2)
The Mote in God's Eye (Moties, #1)
The American Ambassador

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Since his NHL debut in 2005, Henrik Lundqvist has had an ever-enduring affection for the City of New York. The Rangers' franchise goalie explains what he loves most about the City. Watch the full video interview here on www.msgnetworks.com.


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Q: permutations vs combinations on slot machines with repeating elements on each reel For a slot machine with 5 reels where there are repeated elements on each of the reel.
Example:
Reel 1 [ 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 5, 6 ]
Reel 2 [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 ]
Reel 3 [ 2, 2, 3, 2, 4 ]
Reel 4 [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]
Reel 5 [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]
Are all possibilities (7 x 6 x 5 x 5 x 5) called permutations?
Given, that only one element comes from each of the reels to make a combination. In normal mathematics, is 1-4-2-5-5 the same permutation as 1-4-2-5-5 IF the only difference is the first 1 are on different positions on the first reel?
Please note that a different 1 could effect the other "paylines" such as a diagonal payline vs the main horizontal one. Personally, I believe they are different. I just want to verify my assumptions.
"Pay lines are lines on which the right combination of icons has to appear for a player to win rewards. A pay line can be defined as the line that runs through the reels, intersecting with a symbol on each reel. Different games have different numbers of pay lines – when a particular slots game is described, one of the first things mentioned is how many pay lines it has. Pay lines can vary in number from one onwards – most have less than ten, some less than fifty, and a few less than hundred. Early slot machines all had horizontal pay lines but modern slot games can have pay lines that are zig-zag or diagonal as well as horizontal. Some games even have combinations of different types of pay lines, such as those with three horizontal pay lines and two diagonal ones. The number of pay lines in a particular slot machine game is related to the number of coins that are accepted."

A: Since each 1 is distinct on the first reel, you should probably label them 1a, 1b,1c.  Once you label everything distinctly, it is easier to see that you are correct.
It is confusing to say 1-4-2-5-5 is different than 1-4-2-5-5.
It is clear that 1a-4-2-5-5 is different than 1b-4-2-5-5

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


noun The twin-flower, Linnæa borealis.
"You don't think that anybody would have been so utterly idiotic as to call me after a ground-vine -- a vegetable?" she continued petulantly.
Glen; the trees stood high and haughty, feeling their living sap; the industrious earth beneath was as a weaver's loom, with a gorgeous carpet on it, whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and woof, and the living flowers the figures.
The wood was green as mosses of the Icy Glen; the trees stood high and haughty, feeling their living sap; the industrious earth beneath was as a weaver's loom, with a gorgeous carpet on it, whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and woof, and the living flowers the figures.
It was a wondrous sight. the wood was green as mosses of the icy Glen; the trees stood high and haughty, feeling their living sap; the industrious earth beneath was as a weaver's loom, with a gorgeous carpet on it, whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and woof, and the living flowers the figures.
Glen; the trees stood high and haughty, feeling their living sap; the industrious earth beneath was as a weaver's loom, with a gorgeous carpet on it, whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and woof, and the living flowers the figures.
a low ground-vine, not dissimilar to a species of that vegetable usual to warm climates.


Thursday at the Vista (4473 Sunset), Sigur Rós will perform a few songs acoustically. This will be followed by a screening of the new concert DVD "Heima," which has been graced with rave reviews across the board.
There are two shows; early show at 8pm, late show at 11pm. Courtesy Beggars Banquet, we have a pair of tickets to give away to the late screening. Doors are at 1030pm; performance at 11pm, screening at 1130pm.
UPDATE: This contest is totally and completely closed due to my mailbox exploding. Thank you for your interest. Winner will be contacted shortly.
Please do not enter the contest if you cannot attend the show. I will need your full name; the winner will be contacted by 5pm Wednesday. As you may or may not have heard there are of course other methods to gain admittance to the late show, but they are rather involved. The terminally unlucky and terminally impatient can still pony up $25 for a ticket to the early show. I would expect both screenings to be ludicrously crowded; early arrival suggested. Good luck!
Sigur Rós' new double quasi-retrospective album Hvarf / Heim will be available for purchase in the United States beginning November 6; the DVD Heima will be available for purchase beginning November 20, both on XL. More info.


Hi John. What an excellent comparison you wrote and after reading your article I felt stoked!!! My wife knows all too well I'd always wanted a Rolex Submariner (blue dial with gold and s/s band) and for close to 20 years I've been searching off and on for websites to find, well, 'my' watch.


You can see more examples in the Google Developers Showcase (https://developers.google.com/showcase/).
As with all components of the Apps platform, there is nothing to install. Google provides the code editor in the browser, and your scripts run on Google Apps cloud infrastructure.
Although Apps Script is easy to pick up and code, it does have some (significant!) limitations. Making mistakes up front can lead to poorly performing code, headaches and sleepless nights.
To save you some time, and help you avoid these frustrations, we have shared a list of 10 watch points to keep in mind when developing Enterprise Applications on Google Apps Script.


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Nigeria's Electoral Umpire and the Real Meaning of Inconclusive Elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has fixed March 23, 2019 for supplementary elections in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Rivers state, where according to the commission elections were declared inconclusive.
But with the Osun state governsotrship elections still fresh in the minds of Nigerians, the electorate now interprete inconclusive elections to mean the installing of political office holders through other methods except the ballot.
The electorate lament the state of anarchy atmosphere, elections took place, while insisting that those who emerge from elections characterized by desperation, violence, killings, cover ups and rigging would never be able to ensure good governance since they would always be haunted by the process that facilitated their emergence.
Surprisingly, the powers that be still believe that Nigerians are gullible, which, if unfolding events are anything to go by, is no longer the case.
From the Presidential and National Assembly elections to the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, all has not been well, the coming days and weeks shall give flesh this assertion.
Leaders Ought to Develop the Right Mindset for Good Governance. Read more-https://bit.ly/2UzjsVi
Despite Flawed General Elections Nigeria is Still One by the Grace of God-Grand Imam Shafauden-in-Islam Worldwide. Read more-https://bit.ly/2HivKi2
The Real Leaders are in the Lesser Known Parties
The March 9, Governorship and House of Assembly elections will definitely not have the credibility it deserves when the credibility and acceptability of the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections still hangs in the balance.
Indeed, most Nigerians are continually speaking out, that the results of the elections does not represent their will.
Sadly, the President Muhammadu Buhari led Government is determined to impose its desire on Nigerians, which is the basis of the confusion in most parts of the country.
Indeed, if the experience, credentials and leadership qualities of candidates, some unseen faces are vigorously making efforts to impose on the people in a number of states are anything to go by, the conclusion will be that the electorate must be careful on their choice of Governorship and state House of Assembly candidates.
Without doubt, candidates who possess the ability to deliver, are the flag bearers of the lesser known parties, while those who openly display the fact that they have the financial muscle to buy 'power' are in the so called 'big' Political Parties.
It is definite, that the people are making all efforts to free themselves from years of bondage, that is why caution can be the only word to guide them as they vote in another election to be conducted by the same Independent National Electoral Commssion(INEC), whose inability to conduct, free, fair and credible elections is now in the open
Nigeria Needs the Favour of God for Good Leadership to Emerge-Prof. Olagoke
Before the February 23, 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Military and the Police to deal ruthlessly with ballot box snatchers, who were caught in the act.
Security experts insist that this paved the way for all that happened during the elections. According to them since ballot box snatching is a security issue, President Buhari ought to have addressed the issue professionally.
The security experts argue that the President's directive is not within the purview of all that has been said and done about leadership by example.
Interestingly, there were several cases of ballot box snatching across the country, with a number of the snatchers meeting their untimely death.
Nigerians insist that the ballot box snatchers were acting on the directive of the political class who cut across party lines. Most of them met their sudden end, while some made good their escape.
Without doubt, the President's directive has affected the outcome of the general elections in several ways.
In this interview with Federationews2day, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke asserts that Nigeria urgently needs the favour of God for the emergence of individuals who shall offer positive leadership by example. Excerpts :
What are your views on the President's directive to the Military and Police on ballot box snatchers ?
The problem with Nigeria as of this moment, is that of people who are already lost in the wilderness of politics.
In Nigeria, politicians wrestle and struggle for power, rather than competing through the spirit of sportsmanship, based on evidence of developmental programmes.
President Buhari could never have meant that ballot box snatchers should be killed because the victims could also be from his party, though without his direct involvement.
Ballot box snatching is as grievous as felony, hence it has to be prevented at all costs.
The President might have considered the huge amount spent so far, on the conduct of the elections as well as the security effect on ground, hence the statement that ballot box snatchers could be playing with their lives. However, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) expectedly, turned against him and interpreted his directive to mean ''kill at sight''.
Only those people with the intention to rig will catch cold over the President's directive.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has been explicit enough on the code of conduct expected during the elections, a violation of which should be expected to be in line with the dictates of the laws of any decent society.
The security operatives should therefore avoid accidental discharge and stray bllet syndrome before, during and after the period of the elections.
The 2019 general elections must not be allowed to be hijacked by the enemies of Nigeria, who believe in taking advantage of any crisis to carry out heinous acts that could lead to the unthinkable.
This is the very time Nigeria and Nigerians need the favour of God to choose for us, because consideration for amnesty for treasury looters or pursuit of zero tolerance to corruption with kid gloves, for those who dance to the tune of plea bargain, may not necessarily help the nation.
What we need are people that will offer leadership by example through sacrifice and sense of direction and purpose, for Nigeria to become a strong institution with a well informed citizenry who will enjoy visible care from their government.
The 2019 general elections must be committed to the good hands of God, through Nigerians' determination to look and vote for credible people with verified track record of love, discipline and passion for the people.
THE 2019 general elections will determine the pace at which Nigeria will move forward, that is if we allow the voice of wisdom to prevail at every level of the strata of Nigeria's hierarchy.
Nigerians should think well before reacting to issues in the polity, as a step towards avoiding hate speech and ambiguous words, so as to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the polity.
Oyo Govt. Threatening and Intimidating INEC Top Echelon-PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has raised the alarm over the Oyo state Government's use of intimidation, threats and harrassment on the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) in the state to cow it to compromise the electoral process.
The PDP made this revelation on Wednesday, through its Presidential Campaign Coordinator in Oyo state, Dr. Nureni Adeniran at a Press Conference in Ibadan, Nigeria.
'' It has been brought to our attention that the ruling party, APC has been threatening, intimidating and pressurizing the top echelon of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to do their unlawful bidding. APC through the Governor, was alleged to have approached the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo state, Barr. Mutiu Agboke, to do their bidding and was harrassed and threatened that if he does not do their bidding, he would ensure that he is transferred out of Oyo state''
''Contrary to the directve that sensitive election materials should be returned to CBN, the Governor insisted it should be returned to Government House. Although it was resisted by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr. Mutiu Agboke. The fact that the effort was made by the Governor makes it bad enough for our Democracy at this auspicious time''.
''At the instance of APC and their cohorts, the smart card readers that were supposed to be configured at INEC office in Ibadan, concerted efforts were made to get it configured at the Agodi Government House, Ibadan through coercion''.
''Allegations of outright thumb printing at the Government House leveled against the Governor since last week, has not been refuted up till now. We demand investigation into this allegation since our campaign council was inundated with calls from different quarters'', Dr. Addeniran stated.
The PDP also called on staff of INEC and other agencies that would play roles in the general elections, not to ''succumb to pressure from the ruling party or anyone at all to carry out any illegal and untoward practices that could change the will of the people which can truncate our fledging Democracy''.
''We don't want a situation where they would subvert the will of the people. We should cry out on time so that the people of Oyo state will know what is going on'', he concluded
We will not Compromise Election results and PVCs-Oyo INEC Assures
The Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC) in Oyo state, Mr. Mutiu Agboke h has assured the electorate that the Commission would not act in anyway that would compromise the Permanent Voters Cards(PVC) still in its custody.
Mr. Agboke gave this assurance on Tuesday during a Media Briefing at the Commission's office in Ibadan, Nigeria.
''There is no pressure that would make me to compromise your results, there is no pressure that would make me compromise your Permanent Voters Cards. Nobody has put gun in my ears, I am not going to sell your PVCs. Nothing will happen to your PVCs. We are going to harmonize the PVCs and those not collected would be put in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria'', he stated.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner also dislosed that the commission was taking the issue of security before, during and after the elections seriously, saying'' the commission is leaving no stone unturned in the area of security of both men and electoral materials on the day of election''.
''That is why the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security(ICCES), chaired by the Commissioner of Police and co-Chaired by me has been meeting regularly to identify grey areas and flashpoints in the state in collaboration with respective Electoral officers. Security is to be beefed up at both state and local government offices of INEC, inorder to forestall any security threats during election periods'', Mr. Agoke concluded.
The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC)
Some Bad Elements in INEC and the Ruling APC in Oyo want to Disenfranchise Voters-Otunba Alao-Akala
A former Governor of Oyo state, who is also the governsorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party in the state, Otunba(Dr.)Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala has expressed worry over the covert moves by some personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) and the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state to move eligible voters from their Local Governments to different ones to facilitate a new dimension of rigging.
Otunba Alao-Akala made this disclosure on Tuesday, in an address he delivered at the Official presentation of the ADP governorship candidate, his deputy and other candidates for the 2019 Gubernatorial Elections in Ibadan, Nigeria.
''May I use this occasion to inform the stakeholders in the Nigerian electoral system and the world at large that information reaching us from competent sources is that some bad elecments in the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) are conniving with the ruling APC to disenfranchise thousands of voters across the state and weakening the leading oppositiom candidates in their strongholds by engaging in state-wide illegal relocation of voters from their units/Local Government of origins to other units/LGAs''.
The former Governor called on the INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmud Yakub and the security agencies to ''put a stop to this advanced rigging method''.
He assured the people of the state that candidates of the ADP were passionate about delivering results that shall impact positively on them, adding ''I must say that the re-election of the present administration was an aberration that came by way of the bandwagon effect that followed the election of President Muhammadu Buhari''.
''Regardless of the sinister moves of other parties, our campaign shall be issue-based, violence free and intellectually stimulating, resting on the renewed 13-point agenda drawn from our party's hallmarks; all these clothed in peace and tranquility'', Otunba Alao-Akala stated.


text:
J. Daughter presents Scary Stories
Amanda is moving into a new home far away from her previous city life. She is updating her family on the move and how she feels about it when she starts seeing things on her phone – and this is just the first story.
Keywords:123movies 9movies Free gomovies gostream J. Daughter presents Scary Stories Online losmovie movie4k movietv primewire putlockers putlockertv seehd seehd.info shockshare sitename solarmovie Watch J. Daughter presents Scary Stories watch32 yesmovie
Warlock Moon
Young lovers John and Jenny decide to go for a drive in the countryside one day when they happen upon the remains of a long-abandoned resort spa. After doing some…
Genre: Horror, Thriller
The Last Party of Your Life
Finally, graduated and off to Croatia. It's supposed to be the "party of their lives." But for Julia and her friends their graduation trip turns into a horror trip, from…
Omen III: The Final Conflict
Damien Thorn (Sam Neill) has helped rescue the world from a recession, appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S. Ambassador to England, Damien fulfills a…
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals
While doing undercover work in a mental hospital, Emanuelle discovers a girl who seems to have been raised by a tribe of amazonian cannibals. Intrigued, Emanuelle and friends travel deep…
Genre: Adventure, Horror
Hanklin Purvis enjoys the outdoors, and he loves to hunt. He and his wife, Dorothy, live on a farm in the rural mid-west. For some reason, during the season before…
A grad student breaks up with her boyfriend to focus on her thesis, not realizing something has infected him and that he's going to wreak havoc on her life.
Curse of the Maya
Renee Summers has just been released from a mental institution when her fiancee and psychiatrist, Jeffrey Morgan buys her a secluded cabin to rest before she faces her friends and…
Rebecca and Sandra borrow a car and decide to go on a road trip. Soon after they have stopped at an isolated gas station, their car breaks down in the…
Killer Camera Monsters
A struggling photographer gets more than he bargained for, discovering the truth of what his new camera is really capable of.
An archaeologist finds the mummified remains of a giant–the offspring of a Fallen Angel and a human woman. Now he has to stop the terror he has unleashed.
Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller, TV Movie
A young woman is held captive in an underground medical facility where selected individuals are perpetually mutilated and then healed using an experimental miracle drug: a panacea.
The Duplex
A cash-strapped man and his pregnant wife buy a beautiful new home at a bargain price, only to learn that they aren't the only occupants.


Russian agency Openmint designed this fun, colorful packaging for Tattoo Mall, an online tattoo equipment retailer. The packaging features tattoo-inspired graphics that make the products seem less intimidating and more accessible in general.
"Tattoomall.ru is one of the biggest online tattoo equipment's seller in Russia. This is the guide into the world of tattooing for everybody — from beginners to professionals.


TDS ACROSS ALL parties and none were asked today to contribute to a new bill brought before the Dáil with the aim of keeping people in Ireland in their homes.
The bill was written by Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan and introduced in the Dáil chamber today by Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness. However, this is not a Fianna Fáil bill, and McGuinness is not certain his party colleagues will even support it when it is debated.
Today he urged all TDs in the Dáil to read it, to contribute to the debate and to help make this bill work. He described this as a "non-political approach to what is a crisis for Irish society".
The Affordable Housing and Fair Mortgage Bill 2018 deals with evictions, mortgage-to-rent solutions, sales to vulture funds and the reconfiguration of the government's legal advice service Abhaile as a mortgage resolution agency.
McGuinness said the legislation would "keep people in their homes and bring the vulture funds to heel". He said politicians will not find an answer to these problems in any of the bills currently before the house.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon McGuinness told TDs they have a choice now – they can go down the "tired old political route that is stale and out of date" and make excuses, or they can get involved with the legislation.


text:
package com.webcohesion.enunciate.modules.idl;

import freemarker.ext.beans.BeansWrapperBuilder;
import freemarker.template.Configuration;
import junit.framework.TestCase;

import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
import java.util.HashMap;

/**
 * @author Ryan Heaton
 */
public class TestQNameModel extends TestCase {

  /**
   * Tests the string representation of the qname model.
   */
  public void testGetAsString() throws Exception {
    HashMap<String, String> namespacePrefixes = new HashMap<String, String>();
    namespacePrefixes.put("urn:testGetAsString", "tgas");
    QNameModel model = new QNameModel(new QName("urn:testGetAsString", "element"), new BeansWrapperBuilder(Configuration.getVersion()).build(), namespacePrefixes);
    assertEquals("tgas:element", model.getAsString());
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Psalm 91 talks about living under God's protection. It details various dangers the believer will be kept from. In sum, "Because you have made the LORD—my refuge, the Most High—your dwelling place, no harm will come to you" (Psalm 91:9-10).
Similar sentiments are expressed in other verses. Some take these verses at face value: if we walk with the Lord, nothing bad will happen to us. Others add that, if bad things do happen, it's due to unbelief or hidden sin.
These thoughts aren't wholly false. Overall, things will go better if we walk with the Lord. That said, neither scripture nor experience bear this out entirely.
Experience alone tells us to expect hard times. A number of scriptures promise the same. Jesus Himself said, "You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world" (John 16:33).
Perhaps a better way to understand verses like Psalm 91 is through the lens of death and resurrection. Jesus suffered immensely during his earthly ministry, not to mention on the cross. No one would suggest He suffered because of unbelief or hidden sin.
Ultimately, because Jesus was raised from the dead, no harm came to Him, just as Psalm 91 promises. When applied to Jesus, we can't say following God will spare someone from all harm. Resurrection is the only way Psalm 91 makes sense in Jesus's case.
This applies to us as well. Scripture tells us we will experience death and resurrection physically but also spiritually (Rom. 6:11, 8:11). We fellowship in Christ's sufferings, death, and resurrection psychologically and mystically throughout our earthly lives (2 Cor. 4:10-11; Php. 3:10).
Scripture and experience categorically deny that we can go through this life without suffering. But if we experience Christ's resurrection out of suffering and death, then ultimately no harm comes to us as Psalm 91 promises.
Viewing Psalm 91 (and similar verses) through the lens of death and resurrection keeps us from having to shut our eyes to the hardships of life. There is also no need to twist or ignore scripture in order to maintain unbiblical beliefs. Even more important, we can know Jesus fully without rejecting aspects of Him in favor of pet theologies.


text:
[email protected]eithma.co.uk
London, 15th October 2021: Leith Mergers & Acquisitions Limited (Leith M&A) is pleased to announce that Cairngorm Capital Partners' portfolio company, Independent Builders Merchant Group (IBMG) has acquired Leith M&A's Client Company, DW Burns & Partner Ltd (Burns), expanding its network of specialist plumbing and heating merchants.
Established in 1963, DW Burns is a highly successful family run plumbers' merchant and bathroom showroom, supplying both trade and retail customers across Surrey. A trusted local brand with a reputation for outstanding customer service, Burns has trade counters in Woking and Farnham, plus an extensive showroom in Woking.
Following its recent merger with Grant & Stone, this acquisition continues IBMG's strategy of developing its divisions through a combination of acquisition, new site development and organic growth. Burn's highly complementary branch network and product range will extend the IBMG's specialist plumbing and heating provision into Surrey and provide a strong platform for further growth. Culturally, both companies are highly aligned, sharing a common vision, independent ethos and commitment to providing the highest standards of customer service.
For Burns, this partnership secures the right custodian for the business to support future succession – one with shared values, who will maintain and respect its legacy. Toby Hoyle, Burns' owner, will remain in the business working with Matt Bland, Managing Director of IBMG's heating and plumbing division, to ensure Burns' successful integration into the division.
Matt Bland, Managing Director of IBMG's plumbing and heating division said, "We are delighted to welcome Burns to IBMG. We have much in common so this is a strong and logical partnership. In addition, we are particularly pleased to be able to strengthen our plumbing and heating offer for our customers in Surrey."
Toby Hoyle, Managing Director of Burns said, "The team and I are delighted join IBMG. Both companies share a commitment to the highest standards of customer service and an independent ethos, which makes this partnership a very good fit. Without doubt, this is the best step to ensure that Burns will go from strength to strength in the future."
David Nelson, Managing Director of Leith M&A said, "We have been delighted to play a part in the history of this long-established, independent company. It has been a particular pleasure to support the Shareholders on this transaction. They have been faithful custodians of the company for over half a century and we are proud to have played a small part in securing the future of the company.
Burns was advised by Leith M&A (M&A and financial advisory) and Downs Solicitors (legal). IBMG was advised on this transaction by Wilson Partners (financial and tax), Gowling (legal).
For further information please contact Leith Mergers & Acquisitions Limited – [email protected] – 01306 646 890


Quest Technology International is an established interconnect supplier offering supply chain solutions to distributors worldwide. Quest provides a stable source of competitively priced quality products for industries servicing installation of Networks; Telecommunications; Broadcast; Security Systems; Low-Voltage & HDMI video products; MRO and OEM for commercial and residential markets. Quest ships out of our 40,000 sq. ft. Miami facility to distributors primarily throughout North and South America.
Quest Technology Int'l offers a diverse product selection of interconnect products including UL & ETL verified networking data and voice solutions, including our LocJack Keystone Security Solution; RF connectors; installation tools and testers; computer connectivity; USB, HDMI and Cat5E / Cat6 / Cat6A cabling solutions; Quest is also the strategic marketing partner for Premiere Raceway WireHider, Raceway On-A-Roll and Raceway Latching Duct products.
Quest is committed to providing the best possible products and service to our customers worldwide. Shipping in and out of our Miami warehouse is efficient allowing quick delivery and high fill rates both domestically and internationally. Quest also provides availability for special order products, which are manufactured to customers' custom design and configuration specifications and requirements.


The trade is done and Manny Machado is officially a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Prior to his introductory press conference, Machado spent some time meeting his new teammates.
As a member of the Baltimore Orioles, Machado wore No. 13 as his jersey number. As the newest member of Dodger Blue, he will wear No. 8.
Why No. 8? Kobe Bryant.
Manny Machado says he has a dog named Kobe.
Machado will bat second in the lineup and play shortstop against the Brewers.
Alex Wood and Justin Turner of the Dodgers were pretty excited this week when they heard the news about Machado.
The Dodgers got him… but for how long?
Well that isn't exactly what happened.
In his debut, the Dodgers won on the road against the Brewers.


text:
Q: No FileSystem for scheme "gs" in apache airflow am trying to submit my scala Jar using SparkSubmitOperator in airflow, I have set configurations for gs, am not sure are they in right place, below is how my DAG looks like
SparkSubmitOperator(task_id='spark_task',
 application = 'gs://xxx/xxx/xxx.jar',
 conf = {"spark.driver.allowMultipleContexts":True, "spark.blacklist.enabled":False, "fs.gs.impl":True, "com.google.cloud.hadoop.fs.gcs.GoogleHadoopFileSystem":False "fs.AbstractFileSystem.gs.impl":False, "com.google.cloud.hadoop.fs.gcs.GoogleHadoopFS":True},
    conn_id='spark_local',
    java_class = 'com.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx',
    jars="gs://xxx/xxx/*",
    application_args=["xxx" "xxx" "xxx", "xxx"])

am getting this exception


I haven't played one in a long time (bought it early on for the PS3), and bought 5 a few days ago.
Very similar stuff to the old ones, and I'm having trouble doing some of the combos. But so far, so good.
I picked it up the other day but am pretty mixed on it so far. I'm thinking I'm probably about halfway through the game at the moment. Might say more after I've finished it and other people chime in first.
Sadly, this will be like the RE2 Remake thread and people won't chime in.
moycon?? What the hell is that??
Is this a remake of the original game or a new sequel? I haven't played a DMC game since the 2nd one, and I don't think I finished that one. I did play through the first game (I believe on the ps2?) and thought it was amazing for it's time. Seemed like the second one was more of the same, or didn't keep my attention, after that I pretty much ignored the franchise. I bought a version on the Xbox 360 but never played it.
It's a new game, not a remake.
Not played a DMC game in full since DMC III.
Capcom is behind it. They farmed out the reboot, DMC: Devil May Cry, to Ninja Theory. Capcom themselves made 4.
Ahhh that was it..Ninja Theory.
Never went much on Enslaved or Heavenly Sword either.
So it's back in Capcoms hands.
From the eight hours or so I've put into it so far, not really. But I'll reserve total judgement until I finish my playthrough.
I enjoyed DMC (the remake) and never played the originals. How does 5 compare?
I only manage to play it in smaller spurts due to kids and being tired at night lately.
I'm enjoying it, but I wouldn't say it's anything GREAT.
If you like the old ones, you'll probably enjoy this one.


Despite hectic business occupation for last 45 years, he has devoted time for Literary, Cultural and Social activities and earned a great name as a freelance writer. He was member of many social and literary associations in the Andhra Pradesh. He wrote more than 10,000 poems on various subjects including his two well known books one on Sri Rama entitled " Rama Rasamrutham " and another one is on Bhagawan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba entitled " Sri Sai Sudha Madhuri". He has received UGADI PURASKAR from Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, India in 1998. Dr AVS Raju has set a new Guinness world record by writing the largest single volume biography " Sri Sai Sudha Madhuri" on the life of Sri Satya Sai Baba between 1996 and 2007. The single bound book consists of 32 separate volumes. Dr AVS Raju has recently been appointed as chairman of the Hyderabad District Dharmic Council. He was also conferred with an honarary doctorate by the Acharya Nagarjuna University in 2008. He has also had the rare distinction of being mentioned in the Limca Book of World Records for four consecutive years (2005-08).He had undertaken social forestry with a target of planting 2 LAKH trees on large scale as a protagonist of environmental protection and preservation of ecological balance and achieved the goal. Chairman for a Unique Venture "Galaxy of Prominent Telugus 1st World Conference-1995" which was successfully organised on 30.12.1995 and 31.12.1995 at Sri Sathya Sai Nigamagam, Hyderabad and documented the achievements of 1000 distinguished personalities of World Telugus Origin, in varied fields. Developed along with Associates a Mega Horticulture farm with 100 varieties of fruit bearing trees in an extent of 550 acres (2.2 km2) in Medak, East and West Godavari Districts of A.P., along with other farmers. He was awarded "Life Time Achievement award" instituted by the Builders' Association of India. The Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, presented the award to Dr AVS Raju at a function held in Kochi in 2006. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2010 in the field of Trade and Industry.
He had undertaken social forestry with a target of planting 2 LAKH trees on large scale as a protagonist of environmental protection and preservation of ecological balance and achieved the goal. Chairman for a Unique Venture "Galaxy of Prominent Telugus 1st World Conference-1995" which was successfully organised on 30.12.1995 and 31.12.1995 at Sri Sathya Sai Nigamagam, Hyderabad and documented the achievements of 1000 distinguished personalities of World Telugus Origin, in varied fields. Developed along with Associates a Mega Horticulture farm with 100 varieties of fruit bearing trees in an extent of 550 acres (2.2 km2) in Medak, East and West Godavari Districts of A.P., along with other farmers. He was awarded "Life Time Achievement award" instituted by the Builders' Association of India. The Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, presented the award to Dr AVS Raju at a function held in Kochi in 2006. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2010 in the field of Trade and Industry.
Dr AVS Raju was born on 18 April, 1937 and hails from a family that has been in the construction for over three generations. He left his village Antervedipalem in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India, after Matriculation at the age of 18 years to make his career in Hyderabad and started contributing his share in developing the state in the areas of Industry, Infrastructure, Agriculture and Power. Last 45 years of his career, he has contributed in promoting many industries around Hyderabad and various parts of Andhra Pradesh while spreading the Construction activity in the country. He was the Secretary and Treasurer of Sri Nagarjuna Cooperative Housing Society Limited in 1975 and presently is its President. He was one of the promoters of M/s Nagarjuna Steels Ltd ., during 1975-76, the first company of the present popular Nagarjuna group of Companies in Hyderabad and Deccan Cements Ltd., during 1983-84 a successfully and the first mini-cement plant in the country. He was also Promoter and Managing Director of M/s AVS Containers Ltd. in 1983-84.