Skip to content

Big Bearded Bookseller

currently reading "Flowers from the Void" by Gianni Washington

and snakes and stones never broke my bones

Home
Book Lists
Book Reviews
- Review Policy
Author Interviews
Blogger Interviews
Illustrator Interviews
Contact

Search for:

Tag: Karen M McManus

Two Can Keep a Secret

Posted in Book Review

Two Can Keep a Secret

24th March 2020

Search for:

Lucky Dip

Jerry Simcock – Q&A
Caron McKinley – Q&A
Daily Routine
2023 and Looking Forward
How To Be Right In a World Gone Wrong
The Witches of World War II
Susan C Wilson – Q&A

TBR

Archives

2024
2023
2022
2021
2020

▼

May0 Posts

Jun0 Posts

Jul0 Posts

Aug0 Posts

Sep0 Posts

Oct0 Posts

Nov0 Posts

Dec0 Posts

Categories

Categories

Redbubble

Recent Posts

Realist Manifesto
A Haunted Girl
Is It A Seed?
Griz Grobus
The Honey Witch

Top Posts & Pages

A Haunted Girl

Emma Whitehall - Q&A

Review Policy

Art Manifesto

Contact

Abroad in Japan

Dead Girls

Nigel Stewart - Q&A

Ivy Ngeow - Q&A

The Tarot of Leonora Carrington

Professional Reader

Reviews Published

25 Book Reviews

Tags

Adventure Art Author Author Interview Author Q&A Biography Book Review Chicken House Children’s Books Family Fantasy Fiction Friendship Fun Funny Graphic Novel Horror Humour Illustrator Interview Journal Literary Fiction Magic Magical Middle Grade Music Mystery Mythology Nature NetGalley Non-Fiction Penguin Photography Picture Book Poetry Review Science Fiction Short Stories Simon & Schuster Speculative Fiction Tarot Thriller Walker Books Writing Young Adult Younger Readers

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Join 4 other subscribers.

big.bearded.bookseller

Village Green mornings #villagegreen #morning #no

Village Green mornings

#villagegreen #morning #nofilter

Day 18 of 19 with some of my favourite poems #poe

Day 18 of 19 with some of my favourite poems

#poem #poetry #ttpd

Book 46 Ethan Sacks, Naomi Sacks, Marco Lorenzana

Book 46

Ethan Sacks, Naomi Sacks, Marco Lorenzana . Image Comics. (132p) ISBN: 9781534397774

A Haunted Girl

Once again I was drawn to this immediately by the cover and I’m pleased to say that the cover was right, Image Comics seem to be hitting it out of the ball park right now with these collections as I just couldn’t put this down.

Cleo is the last in the bloodline of a family that has the power to close the veil between the plane of Death and Earth and stop the Goddess of Death in her various incarnations and guises from consuming the life force of everyone on our plane…

But Cleo is unsure of whether or not she wants to live, hospitalised for depression and suicidal ideation, unsure of her place in the world, and struggling to cope on a daily basis, she must decide whether or not to rise to the challenge, but first she has to decide whether or not what she is seeing is real.

A sensitive look at the troubles a young person can face when depressed and unsure, this is woven throughout the more supernatural aspects of the story, and is essential to the outcome.

All of this is beautifully portrayed through Marco’s images, strong and striking when needed but toned down when looking at the mental health part of the story.

Ploughed through this on my commute into work this morning and couldn’t put it down.

I received this from NetGalley and Image Comics in exchange for an honest review.

#horror #supernatural @imagecomics #graphicnovel #depression

Just been approved on @netgalley for Sarah Hawley’s “A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire”

#fantasy #romance #romantasy #werewolf #vampire

Day 17 of 19 with some of my favourite poems #poe

Day 17 of 19 with some of my favourite poems

#poem #poetry #ttpd

Book 45 of the year, "Off the Tracks" by Pamela Mu

Book 45 of the year, "Off the Tracks" by Pamela Mulloy

This is my cooking view when I’ve a day off and

This is my cooking view when I’ve a day off and it’s sunny

Just been approved for “A Haunted Girl” by Eth

Just been approved for “A Haunted Girl” by Ethan Sacks, Naomi Sacks, and Marco Lorenza

#amreading #horror #graphicnovel @imagecomics #horrorgraphicnovel #upcoming

Just been approved on @netgalley for The Third Lov

Just been approved on @netgalley for The Third Love by Hiromi Kawakami published by @grantabooks translated by Ted Goossen

#scifi #historicalfiction #literaryfiction #translatedfiction #thethirdlove

Emily Ann Davison, Adriena Fong. Flying Eye Books.

Emily Ann Davison, Adriena Fong. Flying Eye Books. (32p) ISBN: 9781838741587

Is It A Seed?

A lovely little package arrived from Flying Eye Books a few days ago.

What happens when a child finds an seed that they don’t recognise?

Two children find an unknown seed in the garden and decide to plant it to see what happens.

Throughout the book they let their imagination run as wild as an out of control creeper and have lots of thoughts on what could come from this one seed, and each page brings a fancier flight of imagination.

An enchanting story that holds your hand and encourages guessing about what the children are going to imagine next, all beautifully illustrated with lots of lovely little asides on each page.

A story about imagination and potential that can come from the unknown, but also about friendship, blended families, and nature.

#picturebook #nature #gardening #imagination @flyingeyebooks #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #isitaseed @emily.a.davison @adrienafong

Day 16 with some of my favourite poems. #poem #po

Day 16 with some of my favourite poems.

#poem #poetry #ttpd

Simon Roy. Image Comics. (200p) ISBN: 978153439786

Simon Roy. Image Comics. (200p) ISBN: 9781534397866

Griz Grobus

There’s a lot of really good graphic novels out there right now and this is another example of a great one, great art and a couple of really good stories.

The main story is set on a settled planet and follows the life of a scribe who is determined to get back lost knowledge from before of the intergalactic empire.

They awaken a robot who has it’s own agenda regarding a particularly gnarly root vegetable, grave robbers (sorry researchers), a society degrading from high-tech to pastoral, and a genuinely nice constable.

The other story is another in-universe tale that some of the people are reading called “The Tale of Azkon’s Heart, and it is this that has the fantasy element, and a lot of humour.

In this we follow the exploits of a goose, pacifist cook, hungry sorcerer, and the spirit of the God of War. There’s a nice little twist in that the action of one of the characters in the main story influences the story line of this.

All this great story telling is supported with luscious illustrations that have a seventies feel to them, especially as everyone else says, Tintin.

I received this from NetGalley and Image Comics in exchange for an honest review.

#grizgrobus @imagecomics #graphicnovel #bookreview #boostagram #bookstagrammer

Day 15 of 19 with some of my favourite poems #poe

Day 15 of 19 with some of my favourite poems

#poem #poetry #ttpd

It's another moist Monday and this week I'm readin

It's another moist Monday and this week I'm reading "Off the Tracks" by Pamela Mulloy.

What book(s) are you reading?

#amreading #tbr #letsbuildthattbr #neverenoughbooks #books #bookstagram #bookstagrammer

So much cherry blossom on the road home this eveni

So much cherry blossom on the road home this evening

Sydney J. Shields. Little Brown Book Group. (368p)

Sydney J. Shields. Little Brown Book Group. (368p) ISBN: 9780356522524

The Honey Witch

Marigold remembers happy times with her Grandmother on the island of Innisfree which were cut short by memories of fire and chaos.

Years later living in the land of Bardshire Mari feels so out of place, a land of talents and gentry Marigold is nether but wants to run wild and be herself.

It is here that we discover that Marigold is a Honey Witch, as is her grandmother but which her mother didn’t want as to be a Honey Witch is to be cursed never to be loved, never to find your soulmate. Mari grabs the opportunity with both hands and this is where the adventure starts.

Another in my journey through the land of cozy fantasy, full of flowers, honey, friendship, and a world that accepts love for whoever you want to love, though chaperones are required no matter.

Well imagined world which is based on the duality of magics and that a Honey Witch who nourishes life should be paired with an Ash Witch who cleanses rot and decay to make the place clear for growth.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the cottages and châteaux, the freedom that Mari really enjoys as she learns her powers, the different honeys and their uses, and the love that grows that is forbidden.

Slightly more perilous than my last cozy fantasy read, especially the descriptions of pushing against the curse and the build up to the end section, but still a cozy read with some really fun parts.

And it’s great that one of the characters is a tattoo artist as you don’t really see that in books much, and the use of the tattoos she did on herself was perfect, though it has made me want another tattoo.

A great little read and I’m really hoping that we get to visit this world at some point again.

#cozyfantasy #fantasy #magic #thehoneythief @littlebrown @sydneyjshields

Was a lovely walk into the station to have to wait

Was a lovely walk into the station to have to wait for an extra forty minutes after the train I was meant to get was cancelled

#fuckpublictransport #shittrains #ineedajobindarlington #commutingisshit

Day 14 of 19 with some of my favourite poems #poe

Day 14 of 19 with some of my favourite poems

#poem #poetry #ttpd

Class in a tin #alldaybreakfast #fraybentos #chil

Class in a tin

#alldaybreakfast #fraybentos #childhoodmemories

Happy #caturday

Happy #caturday

Load More… Follow on Instagram

Currently Reading

Flowers from the Void

RSS – Comments

External links can lead to affiliate links where I can make some money on a purchase

Design by ThemesDNA.com

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

URL

Link Text

Open link in a new tab

Or link to existing content

Search

No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.