Top Ten Tuesday: Thanksgiving Books We’ve Reviewed

November 24, 2020 By 29 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Long and Short Reviews!

I wanted to highlight some of the many books set during Thanksgiving that we’ve reviewed over the years because my family has a tradition of including some quiet reading time for bookish family members after the big meal is eaten and the leftovers are put away.

It’s a nice way to give us introverts a little time to decompress before gathering together again to tell funny family stories, have friendly competitions over board games, and participate in other group activities we like to do while digesting the delicious meal we just ate.

This list is arranged by genre because I enjoy reading Thanksgiving-themed stories at this time of the year. I included twelve books in this post because, just like any good Thanksgiving get-together, there’s always room for a last-minute guest or two!

Erotic Romance

Naomi’s Sexy Thanksgiving by Ruby Stallion

 

Romance 

The Firefighter’s Thanksgiving Wish by Anna J Stewart

A McClendon Thanksgiving by Sean D. Young

 

Mystery & Suspense 
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The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Sixth Scandalous Serving by J. Alan Hartman (editor)

Howling Bloody Murder by Susan Owens Wright

The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Fifth Course of Chaos by Edited by J. Alan Hartman

From Hay to Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deceit by Sandra Murphy

The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Second Helping by Various

The Pecan Pie Affair by T. Lee Harris

 

Young Adult 

How to Catch a Turkey by Adam Wallace

Fangsiving by Ethan Long

 

Science Fiction 

Black Friday by Alex Irvine

 

What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With:

Lifestyle: 6 Tips to Have a Safe, Spooky Halloween This Year

October 30, 2020 By Leave a Comment

This year Halloween won’t look quite the way it did before the Covid-19 pandemic began, but there are still many ways to enjoy this holiday while physical distancing, living in isolation, or even quarantining.

Whether you live in the city, the country, or even in a haunted mansion next to graveyard, here are some ways to keep the fun in Halloween in 2020.

Watch Your Favorite Scary Show

If I’m feeling brave, sometimes I’ll turn off all of the lights right before hitting play. Every sort of monster and spirit is more intimidating when their stories are told in the dark.

If you want a few suggestions of what to watch, I adored The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Decorate Your Home

Depending on your budget, living situation, and what sort of decorations you enjoy, you could:

Paint or carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns,

Hang a white sheet from a coat tree to make it look like a ghost is hovering in your living room.

Temporarily turn your Christmas tree into a Halloween tree.

The possibilities are endless.

Visit the Hogwarts Digital Escape Room

Unlike many other digital escape rooms, this one is free! It was created by Sydney Krawiec who is the Youth Services Librarian at Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, PA.

Bake Sweet Treats

They can be inspired by Halloween, autumn, or whatever it is you like to eat in particular.

I think autumn is the perfect time to make pumpkin pie or soft ginger cookies.

They both fill a house with such delicious scents as they bake.

If you’re able to leave the house, you could also throw in some reverse trick-or-treating. That is to say, package up some of your goodies and drop them off at the doorsteps of friends, relatives, or neighbours.
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Maybe you could even organize a dessert exchange so everyone gets a few slices or pieces of many different types of sweets.

Decorate a Face Mask

I’ll admit it: most of my face masks are black and honestly a little boring.

This could easily change with a little paint, cloth, or other materials. Why not have a spider web or grinning pumpkin greet everyone who sees you when you leave home for necessary trips like grocery shopping, going to work, or attending classes?

There are some excellent ideas here.

Have a Halloween Treat Hunt at Home

Half of the fun of trick-or-treating is never knowing what you’ll find next and slowly seeing your bucket fill up with awesome festive candies and trinkets in my opinion.

Luckily, both of these things can be replicated at home!

All you need to do is a Halloween treat hunt like an Easter egg hunt.

That is to say, hide small bundles of candy, stickers, pencils, and other goodies around your home or backyard.

If more than one person lives in your home, have only one household member be in charge of this so it can be a surprise for everyone else.

Anyone who lives alone could order assorted packages or buy for a friend who could, in turn, pick out your treats.

Happy Halloween from Long and Short Reviews!

We hope you all have a wonderful time no matter how you choose to celebrate this holiday.

If you have other tips, do tell us about them in the comment section below.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: ,

Top Ten Tuesday: Horror Stories We’ve Reviewed

October 27, 2020 By 28 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The Halloween Freebie prompt is something Long and Short Reviews blogging team looks forward to every year. It’s often the first October prompt that the first person to notice the new list calls dibs on! Our previous takes on this freebie include Halloween!, Halloween in Nonfiction, and Halloween Books We’ve Reviewed.

This year we decided to highlight the ten most recent horror novels we’ve reviewed. They’re listed from most to least recent, and their other genres are noted in parentheses beside them.

Breath of Salty Air by Ana Rotea(Young Adult)

The Tutor by Rod A. Galindo (Sci-fi/Fantasy)

The Fact of the Matter by Madeleine L’Engle (Sci-fi/Fantasy)

The Cagulant by Jared Gullage(Sci-fi/Fantasy)

Heartbreaks & Half-Truths: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense by Judy Penz Sheluk (Editor) (Suspense/Mystery)

The Eidola Project by Robert Herold(Suspense/Mystery and Sci-fi/Fantasy)

The Lady on the Road: An Urban Legend Short Story by Nick Herntier(Sci-fi/Fantasy)

The Ghost of Jamie McVay by R.G. Ziemer(Young Adult)

A Boy in a Park: Tales of Wonder and Despair by Richard Parkin(Young Adult)

The Blue Horse by Leslie Garland(Sci-fi/Fantasy)

If you’re a fellow fan of the horror genre, what have been the best horror stories you’ve read this year?

Happy Halloween from everyone at Long and Short Reviews!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With:

TV Review: The Haunting of Bly Manor

October 26, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Review of Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor.

A Bright-eyed American au pair hopes to make a difference caring for two orphans in a grand English manor. Yet the feeling of dread is undeniable. 

Review by Astilbe

Rated: 5 Stars

The Haunting of Bly Manor is an American supernatural horror drama that is loosely based on Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw as well as some of his other supernatural stories.

I previously reviewed the first season of this series, The Haunting of Hill House, for Long and Short Reviews. Each season is a standalone work, but I highly recommend checking out Hill House to anyone who enjoys Bly Manor. They share many of the same themes and even actors.

The second season of this show was set in the 1980s and follows a young au pair named Dani Clayton who was hired by a busy lawyer to move to Bly Manor, his remote estate, and look after Flora and Miles, his orphaned niece and nephew.

Soon after she arrived, Dani began to experience paranormal phenomenon that had no logical explanation. There were muddy footprints in the hall every night, strange noises that no one else heard, and apparitions that appeared and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

What made these experiences even odder were the reactions of the children and other Bly Manor staff to them. Things that frightened Dani were often treated as business as usual by her other residents of this lonely, old estate.

Yes, there were excellent reasons for that, but you’ll have to discover them for yourselves.

Anyone who is already familiar with Henry James’ work will have a few clues to work with in the beginning when everything is mysterious, but the narrator will explain it to viewers who haven’t read his stuff yet.
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Dani was a curious but sensible woman. It’s always nice to meet characters who strike a relatable balance between wanting to figure out what’s really going on in their new home and being wary of getting too close to entities they don’t understand and have no control over.

The best paranormal tales in my opinion are the ones that are written about people who are neither the bravest nor the jumpiest person around. There wouldn’t be much of a story all if Dani had run away shrieking the first time she heard a bump in the night, but she also wouldn’t have survived more than a few nights there if she’d had no fear of the unknown at all.

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that explored the relationships among Dani, Flora, Miles, and the other staff members. They were so isolated from the outside world that their friendships grew much deeper than they might have ordinarily. After all, this happened during a time when they didn’t even have the Internet to keep them company on a dark and stormy night!

While it took a while to get to know everyone well, I liked all of the characters once they started revealing their true selves to the audience. These were the sorts of genuine folks I’d love to invite over to play board games, drink tea (the proper, British kind), and share stories with.

One of the biggest differences between Bly Manor and Hill House that I can share in this review without giving away spoilers is that I was much more frightened of the ghosts this time around. They made me shudder in a good way. This was something I was only willing to watch in broad daylight, and even then it scared the dickens out of me a few times.

If you love getting scared as much as I do, The Haunting of Bly Manor might be the perfect Halloween activity this autumn.

 

The Haunting of Bly Manor Trailer 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Super Long Titles

October 13, 2020 By 39 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This prompt was so fun. I’d never really thought about books with super long titles before.

1. Insecure in Love: How Anxious Attachment Can Make You Feel Jealous, Needy, and Worried and What You Can Do About It by Leslie Becker-Phelps

2. Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador by Angelina Jolie

3. People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo–and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry

4. The Dogs that Made Australia: The Story of the Dogs that Brought about Australia’s Transformation from Starving Colony to Pastoral Powerhouse by Guy Hull

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6. Extreme Encounters: How It Feels to Be Drowned in Quicksand, Shredded by Piranhas, Swept Up in a Tornado, and Dozens of Other Unpleasant Experiences… by Greg Emmanuel

7. The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us about Human Behavior by Jeffrey A. Kottler

8. The Definitive Guide to Underground Humor: Quaint Quotes about Death, Funny Funeral Home Stories, and Hilarious Headstone Epitaphs by Edward Bergin

9. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride

10. Understanding and Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America by Joseph Barndt

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Fall 2020 TBR

September 22, 2020 By 44 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

These are the new releases I’m looking forward to reading the most this autumn.

1. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

Publication Date: Today

Why  It Looks Good: What’s not to like about the idea of magical fighting booksellers?

2. Crownchasers (Crownchasers, #1)
by Rebecca Coffindaffer

Publication Date: September 29

Why  It Looks Good: Characters competing for the chance to be the new king or queen sounds interesting!

3. Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo

Publication Date: September 29

Why  It Looks Good: Most of the books about interracial romances and family members who disapprove of them I’ve read in the past have been from the perspective of a white person. It will be cool to see that sort of story told from another point of view.

4. The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Publication Date: October 6

Why  It Looks Good: This is totally unlike my typical read in so many different ways. I generally don’t pick up mysteries, historical fiction, anything related to demons, or tales set at sea. It’s good to try new things sometimes.

5. Concrete Kids by Amyra Leon

Publication Date: October 13
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Why  It Looks Good: The blurb was a little hazy on what this book is actually about, but the idea of teaching kids to dream about their futures is an intriguing one.

6. The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

Publication Date: October 13

Why  It Looks Good: It has a fabulous title, and I need more romance in my TBR.

7.The Valley and the Flood by Rebecca Mahoney 

Publication Date: October 27

Why  It Looks Good: It’s been far too long since I read any magical realism. Add in some prophesy and  a mental illness rep, and I’m quite interested.

8. The Sky Above Us by Natalie Lund 

Publication Date: November 17

Why  It Looks Good: The tragic plane crash that happened shortly before this tale began sounds like an excellent catalyst for everything that happens afterwards.

9. The Bad Muslim Discount  by Syed M. Masood 

Publication Date: November 17

Why  It Looks Good: Anvar Faris sound like a hilarious main character, and I need more laughter in my life.

10. How To Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams

Publication Date: December 1

Why  It Looks Good: The title alone makes it a must-read for me.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With:

Top Ten Tuesday: Nonfiction Books that Make Me Hungry

September 1, 2020 By 53 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

All of these books are related to food or cooking in some way. They also share the distinction of making me hungry!


1. The World’s Best Spicy Food: Where to Find it How to Make it by Lonely Planet

2. The Japanese Way of Tea: From Its Origins in China to Sen Rikyu by Sōshitsu Sen XV

3. Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All by Oran B. Hesterman

4. The Untold History of the Potato by John Reader

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6. Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir by Thomas Pecore Weso

7. Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America by Frederick Douglass Opie

8. Best Of Sri Lankan Party Foods: Party Foods by Shrinika Perera

9. Dates: A Global History by Nawal Nasrallah

10. The World Encyclopedia of Cheese by Juliet Harbutt

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Lapses of Memory by M. S. Spencer

August 28, 2020 By 1 Comment


Thanks for joining us on our 13th anniversary scavenger hunt! There are two ways to enter to win and it’s easy to play– first read the blurb below, then answer the question on the first Rafflecopter. You might win a $100 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC. Follow and visit authors social media pages on the second Rafflecopter and you’re entered to win another $100 Amazon/BN GC!

Sydney Bellek first meets Elian Davies in the 1950s on a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser when she is five and he is seven. They run into each other every few years after that, but while he knows from the start that she is his true love, she does not. Later, as rival journalists, they vie for scoops on international crises from the Iranian revolution to the Lebanese civil war. The handsome and intrepid Elian beats her out at every turn, even while keeping his love for her secret.

Only after years of separation does she finally realize they are meant to be together, but this time, in a twist of fate, it is Elian whose memory of her is gone. Will he remember her before she loses heart or will their new love be enough to replace the old one?

Scavenger Hunt:

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Jacki and the Giant by T. Lee Garland

August 28, 2020 By Leave a Comment


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What if the Giant was just lonely?

Jacki’s already hard life just went from bad to worse when a misunderstanding brands her a witch and a mob intent on burning her alive sends her running for her life.

An odd little man gifts her with a handful of dried beans and tells her to use them in a dire situation. What could be direr? With the mob on her heels and her back against a mountain, Jacki drops the beans to the frozen ground and watches a beanstalk grow to the sky. With no other choice, she climbs.

Ben has been known as the fierce Giant of the Mountain all his life. He lives alone in isolation on top of the mountain, yearning for love and a family.

Can the tall woman with the fiery red hair that shows up in a snowstorm be sent just for him?

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Post-War Dreams by Brenda Whiteside

August 28, 2020 By Leave a Comment


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