Death of Darkness by Dianne Duvall (Review)

Death of Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Blurb

Seth has led the Immortal Guardians for thousands of years. With them fighting by his side, he has protected humans from psychotic vampires, defeated corrupt mercenary armies, defended military bases under attack, and more. But the latest enemy to rise against the Immortal Guardians has proven to be a formidable one, wielding almost as much power as Seth. His goal is simple. He wants to watch the world burn. And he will use every means at his disposal to accomplish it. Seth and his Immortal Guardians have succeeded thus far in staving off Armageddon despite heartbreaking losses. But they have never before faced such danger. Seth has only one wish: to protect his Immortal Guardians family and ensure the continuation of humanity by defeating his foe. But then Leah walks into his life and sparks a new desire.

Leah Somerson has suffered losses of her own. It has taken her a long time to rebuild her life and find some semblance of peace. Then one night a tall, dark, powerful immortal with what appears to be the weight of the world on his shoulders stumbles into her shop, and everything changes. Peace and contentment are no longer enough. Now she wants more. She wants to find happiness. She wants to erase the darkness in Seth’s eyes and replace it with love and laughter. She knows he’s different in ways that make most fear him. Even some of his immortal brethren keep a careful distance. But Leah will not. Nor will she shy away when danger strikes.

Review

It has been a couple of years since I have read a book by Dianne Duvall and I’m not sure why because her books are brilliant.

Each book of the Immortal Guardians series focuses on one main character but the other characters also feature within the story which is always nice because you can keep up to date on the characters you have already met in the previous books. This book is focused on Seth who is the leader of the Immortal Guardians.

The battle against Gershom is still raging and Seth and his Immortal Guardians are starting to get overwhelmed with the chaos that Gershom is creating and Seth is trying to protect everyone and not looking after himself. Then Leah enters his life and everything begins to change.

Leah owns the toy shop that Adira loves and because of a chance encounter where Seth takes Adira to the shop instead of Ami, Seth meets Leah and from that moment on can’t stop thinking about her. Leah is an interesting character and takes everything in her stride when finding out the truth about Seth and his Immortal Guardian family. I will be honest she does tend to take everything rather too laid back for me which at times is rather unbelievable.

I also enjoyed learning more about the origins of Seth, Zach, Jared and the rest of the Others and I hope we will learn even more as the series continues. The humour in the book was also up to its usual standard and I was happily laughing away to myself when reading.

Overall, I enjoyed the book immensely and couldn’t put it down but the reason the book did not get the full 5 Dragons and only 4 was because Leah was just a little too unrealistic for me and at times annoying.

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Purchase Links

Book Depository

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About the author

Dianne Duvall is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Immortal Guardians and The Gifted Ones series. When she isn’t writing, Dianne is active in the independent film industry and has even appeared on-screen, crawling out of a moonlit grave and wielding a machete like some of the vampires she so loves to create in her books.

Reading My Height in Books #8

Hello!

I thought it was time for the monthly update on the massive book stack of all the books I have read so far this year.

Another 4 books have been added to the pile.

The height of the stack is now exactly 39 inches which means I just have 28 inches to go. Fingers crossed I can manage it. I think once my dissertation is complete then I will hopefully read more books.

Here are the pictures from the previous months.

Happy Reading.

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Mid Week Quote: Jesse Owens

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

My chosen quote this week is by Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens (1913-1980) who was an American track and field athlete and four time gold olympic medalist.

“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself—the invisible battles inside all of us—that’s where it’s at.”
Jesse Owens

Happy Reading

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August 2021 Wrap Up

Hello!

August was a good month for me as I got to catch up with friends that I haven’t seen for a long time and go away for a little holiday. I also managed to do some reading which is always good.

Statistics

Books

Pages: 320

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 424

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 30

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Pages: 32

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Pages: 416

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 416

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

41/70 Goodreads Challenge

Still behind on the Goodreads Challenge but I am determined to catch up once the dissertation is finished.

Please drop me a comment if you want to chat about any of the books.

Happy Reading

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The Familiars by Stacey Halls (Review)

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Blurb

Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old, married, and pregnant for the fourth time. But as the mistress at Gawthorpe Hall, she still has no living child, and her husband Richard is anxious for an heir. When Fleetwood finds a letter she isn¹t supposed to read from the doctor who delivered her third stillbirth, she is dealt the crushing blow that she will not survive another pregnancy.

When she crosses paths by chance with Alice Gray, a young midwife, Alice promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby, and to prove the physician wrong.

When Alice is drawn into the witchcraft accusations that are sweeping the North-West, Fleetwood risks everything by trying to help her. But is there more to Alice than meets the eye?

As the two women’s lives become inextricably bound together, the legendary trial at Lancaster approaches, and Fleetwood¹s stomach continues to grow. Time is running out, and both their lives are at stake.

Only they know the truth. Only they can save each other.

Review

After reading Mrs England I really wanted to read more of Stacey Halls’ work and thankfully I remembered I had The Familiars on one of my many TBR piles. When I started reading this I struggled to get into it to start with as it didn’t seem to hook me in like Mrs England had but once I was about a third of the way in I couldn’t put the book down.

This book is based on the real Pendle witch trials that happened in 1612 and the characters are named after real life characters from that period but the story is devised by Stacey Halls.

Fleetwood is the main character in this book and to start with she comes across as rather immature and a little bit spoiled but as the book goes on you see her grow up and become a strong woman. It is just sad that the reason she grows up so quickly is because of the blows that life throws at her during this book.

Alice is Fleetwood’s first real friend and her midwife. She is also Fleetwood’s only hope to bring into the world a healthy baby and keep her own life. Alice is a lovely character and clearly a woman who knows her own mind, she is intelligent and knows the way to help people medically with the items available for the time period. She is also lost and needs someone to be her friend and fight her corner.

Richard is Fleetwood’s husband and to be honest I did not like him. He gives Fleetwood more freedom than most women would have had in the 1600’s but it also seems to come with a price. He comes across as vain and rather big headed.

The story is really about strong women who are not understood by men and so they are punished because of it. It shows just how tough life was for a woman in the 1600’s and that even wealthy women were not well treated at times. I really enjoyed this book but I did struggle at the beginning so I am giving this book 4 out 5 Dragons.

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Product Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

About the author

Stacey Halls grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire, as the daughter of market traders. She has always been fascinated by the Pendle witches. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and moved to London aged 21. She was media editor at The Bookseller and books editor at Stylist.co.uk, and has also written for Psychologies, the Independent and Fabulous magazine, where she now works as Deputy Chief Sub Editor. The Familiars is her first novel.

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The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I have a super busy day today playing for a church service and a wedding.

The blog has suffered a bit this week because of going away for a few days and getting distracted with my cross stitch.

Posts this Week

Currently Reading

Switching between these three still. I’m usually not keen on reading more than one book at a time but it seems to be working at the moment.

No new books bought this week but the list of books I want to buy is growing considerably.

Happy Reading

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Agatha Christie Challenge #2

Hello!

I thought it was time for an update on my Agatha Christie reading challenge as my last update was in June. I am attempting to read all of the complete full length novels by Christie in order of publication.

So here is the big list of books. The crossed off titles are the ones I have already read and reviewed, click them to be taken to the review.

~~The Mysterious Affair at Styles~~
~~The Secret Adversary~~
~~The Murder on the Links~~
~~The Man in the Brown Suit~~
The Secret in Chimneys
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Big Four
The Mystery of the Blue Train
The Seven Dials Mystery
The Murder at the Vicarage
Giant’s Bread
The Floating Admiral
The Sittaford Mystery
Peril at End House
Lord Edgware Dies
Murder on the Orient Express
Unfinished Portrait
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
Three Act Tragedy
Death in the Clouds
The A.B.C Murders
Murder in Mesopotamia
Cards on the Table
Dumb Witness
Death on the Nile
Appointment with Death
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Murder is Easy
And Then There Were None
Sad Cypress
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Evil Under the Sun
N or M?
The Body in the Library
Five Little Pigs
The Moving Finger
Towards Zero
Absent in the Spring
Death Comes as the End
Sparkling Cyanide
The Hollow
Taken at the Flood
The Rose and the Yew Tree
Crooked House
A Murder is Announced
They Came to Baghdad
Mrs McGinty’s Dead
They Do It with Mirrors
A Daughter’s a Daughter
After the Funeral
A Pocket Full of Rye
Destination Unknown
Hickory Dickory Dock
Dead Man’s Folly
The Burden
4.50 from Paddington
Ordeal by Innocence
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Pale Horse
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
The Clocks
A Caribbean Mystery
At Bertram’s Hotel
Third Girl
Endless Night
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
Hallow’en Party
Passenger to Frankfurt
Nemesis
Elephants Can Remember
Postern of Fate
Curtain
Sleeping Murder
Hercule Poirot and Greenshore Folly

Just 70 books left to read! I had thought I would have read more of them by now but I have fallen behind with my reading due to work and studying. I have The Secret in Chimneys lined up to read next.

Happy Reading

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Friday Poetry: William Shakespeare

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone is looking forward to the weekend. I have a busy weekend of organ playing so not much reading will be happening for me.

My chosen poem today is actually an extract from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. I think it is good for symbolising the end of summer.

Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.
Golden lads and girls all must, 
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. 

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat,
To thee the reed is as the oak.
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust. 

Fear no more the lighting-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan.
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust. 

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have,
And renowned be thy grave!

William Shakespeare

Happy Reading

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Mid Week Quote: Leonardo da Vinci

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

My chosen quote today is by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) who was an Italian polymath who was a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect.

“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”
Leonardo Da Vinci

Happy Reading

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

WWW Wednesday: 25/08/2021

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

Sorry for been a bit quiet on here recently, I will be honest I have been using my spare time doing a cross stitch instead of reading.

Anyway, I am still doing a bit of reading and here is what I have been up to.

What I am Currently Reading

It took me a while to get into The Familiars as it didn’t hook me in like Mrs England but I am starting to enjoy it now. I am still dipping into The Book Lover’s Bucket List and my list of places I want to visit is growing and growing. Death of Darkness is addictive and I imagine I will be finishing it very soon.

What I have Recently Finished Reading