Can you believe it's the last week of October? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that November is just around the corner; we've made appointments to get out snowtires on our cars this Saturday as we've already had a couple of snowfalls, although the snow didn't stay long, but I don't want to be unprepared for the first 'big' one. Slipping and sliding all over the road is not my idea of a fun commute to work as naturally, that is when it hits.
My daughter had her first sparring session tonight, and I am always impressed when I see the kids use the skills they have learned in their sparring bouts. It's pretty impressive to see these seven- and eight-year olds use their kicks and punches. I can't wait to see what she can do when she gets older. My son acts like it's nothing now as he's been sparring for a couple of months, but he's learned to protect certain parts of his anatomy from the girls as they instinctively know exactly where to kick, even though they don't mean to (lol!). I've been reading some books about martial arts with my kiddies, which is why I'm mentioning this here, although I've become deeply fascinated by the art. Think a 40-something-year old can take up karate and kung fu?
The Dead (Enemy, Book 2)
by Charlie Higson
Release Date: October 26
A terrible disease is striking everyone over the age of fourteen. Death walks the streets. Nowhere is safe. Maxie, Blue and the rest of the Holloway crew aren't the only kids trying to escape the ferocious adults who prey on them. Jack and Ed are best friends, but their battle to stay alive tests their friendship to the limit as they go on the run with a mismatched group of other kids - nerds, fighters, misfits. And one adult. Greg, a butcher, who claims he's immune to the disease. They must work together if they want to make it in this terrifying new world. But as a fresh disaster threatens to overwhelm London, they realize they won't all survive.
Chocolate Box Girls: Cherry Crush
by Cathy Cassidy
Release Date: October 26, 2010
Cherry Costello's life is about to change forever. She and Dad are moving to Somerset where a new mum and a bunch of brand-new sisters await. And on Cherry's first day there she meets Shay Fletcher; with suntanned skin and sea-green eyes he's the kind of boy who should carry a government health warning.
Devoured (Hatton and Roumande, Book 1)
by D.E. Meredith
Release Date: October 26, 2010
London in 1856 is gripped by a frightening obsession. The specimen collecting craze is growing, and discoveries in far off jungles are reshaping the known world in terrible and unimaginable ways. The new theories of evolution threaten to disrupt the fragile balance of power that keeps the sprawling city in chaotic order - a disruption that many would do just about anything to prevent.
When the glamorous Lady Bessingham is found murdered in her bedroom, surrounded by her vast collection of fossils and tribal masks, Adolphus Hatton and his morgue assistant Albert Roumande are called in to examine the crime scene - and the body. In the new and suspicious world of forensics and autopsy examinations, Hatton and Roumande are the best. But the crime scene is not confined to one room. In their efforts to help the infamous Inspector Adams track down the Lady's killer, Hatton and Roumonde uncover a trail of murders all connected to a packet of seditious letters that, if published, would change the face of society and religion irrevocably.
The Hidden
by Bill Pronzini
Release Date: October 26, 2010
A series of seemingly random murders along a fifty-mile stretch of the rugged northern California coast, committed by an unknown dubbed by the media the Coastline Killer. A young couple with marital problems, Shelby and Jay Macklin, who decide to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's at a friend's remote coastal cottage. Two couples in a neighboring home whose relationships are thick with festering menace. A fierce winter storm that leads to a night of unrelenting terror. These are the main ingredients in Bill Pronzini's chilling and twist-filled tale about the hidden nature of crime and its motives.
The Anatomy of Ghosts
by Andrew Taylor
Release Date: October 26, 2010
1786, Jerusalem College Cambridge. The ghost of Sylvia Whichcote is rumoured to be haunting Jerusalem since disturbed fellow-commoner, Frank Oldershaw, claims to have seen the dead woman prowling the grounds. Desperate to salvage her son's reputation, Lady Anne Oldershaw employs John Holdsworth to investigate.
Dangerous to Know (Emily Ashton, Book 5)
by Tasha Alexander
Release Date: October 26, 2010
The novel opens as Lady Emily, out for a ride, suddenly comes across the body of a young woman who has been horribly murdered. Her wounds are reminiscent of those inflicted on the victims of Jack the Ripper, who is wreaking havoc across the channel in London. Has he made his way to France? Lady Emily and Colin learn that the victim is the daughter of a high born family of French aristocrats who had been committed to an asylum for the insane. While there, she had given birth to an illegitimate child who was spirited away, and may even be dead.
As Lady Emily pursues a trail of clues to the beautiful medieval city of Rouen and a crumbling chateau in the country, she is increasingly disturbed to hear the cries of a little girl in distress who may or may not be the ghost of a murdered child. But then who is leaving blue ribbons in her wake? What is the nature of the bizarrely intense relationship between them murdered woman and her unstable brother? When the doctor who had treated her in the asylum is found brutally murdered and the body of the child's father is found hidden behind a wall in a cottage by the sea, Colin is determined to send Emily back to England before the killer strikes again. But it's too late. Emily is on the verge of solving the mystery, when she is taken captive by the madman in an isolated tower where she hears what sound like the eerie cries of a lost child. She begins to distrust her own sanity but must keep her head in a terrifying game of wits against a cold and brilliant killer or she will be his next victim.
The Haunting of Charles Dickens
by Louis Buzbee
Release Date: October 26, 2010
Meg Pickel's older brother, Orion, has disappeared. One night, she steals out to look for him, and makes two surprising discoveries: She stumbles upon a séance that she suspects involves Orion, and she meets the author Charles Dickens, also unable to sleep, and roaming the London streets. He is a customer of Meg's father, who owns a print shop, and a family friend. Mr. Dickens fears for Orion's safety and for the children of London, and is trying to solve the mystery of their many disappearances. If he can, with Meg's help, then perhaps he'll be able to write once again.
Pearl
by Deirdre Purcell
Release Date: October 28, 2010
In 1920s' rural Ireland, Pearl Somers lives happily with her parents, her sisters Opal and Ruby, and her little brother Willie, in the gate lodge of Kilnashone Castle, where her father is chauffeur to Lord and Lady Areton. But one dreadful night, a series of dramatic events unfold and the lives of all -- elite and ordinary -- are changed forever. Over 40 years later, Pearl has become a successful writer. Yet there is one story she has never told, until her young cousin Catherine confesses a secret of her own that opens a door to Pearl's past -- one she thought had been firmly sealed forever. When Catherine discovers Pearl's story of heartbreak and yearning, she determines to do her best to reconcile past and present. But is it too late for Pearl to find her own happy ending?
The Properties of Water
by Hannah Roberts McKinnon
Release Date: October 28, 2010
The near-fatal accident that cripples thirteen-year-old Lace Martin's older sister paralyzes Lace in time. For Lace, there is only a before--can there be an after? But as the summer surges on, she learns that she must return to the water, the very thing that tore her family apart. This beautifully crafted novel explores the boundaries of family and friendship, the greatest griefs that knock us down, and the smallest kindnesses that guide us to safe harbors.
