In May 2016, a friend I met through Ravelry brought my attention to a Kickstarter for a book her friend Karie Westermann was writing called This Thing of Paper, with knitting designs inspired by Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press. Even with a planned publication date of April 2017, I knew I wanted this book. It’s a good thing I was patient because I didn’t receive it until December. Westermann divided the book into three sections, as she had layed out in her Kickstarter proposal. […]
Four romances for the price of one
Ian MacGregor isn’t even officially the Earl of Balfour yet, that title technically belongs to his older brother, who went off to the Colonies and is presumed dead. It’s been nearly seven years and everyone certainly believes Ian to be the head of the MacGregor clan. While they’re not penniless, they don’t have a whole lot of money to keep the estates going, so Ian is looking for a rich bride to support himself, his two younger brothers, his widowed sister and his niece, not […]
I am an incurable, and nothing else behaves like me
This book was just a lot of fun. 44 Scotland Street is a serial novel that was originally published in an Edinburgh newspaper. It takes place in Edinburgh, focusing mainly on the inhabitants of the titular apartment building. Among other characters, there’s Pat, a college-aged woman taking her “second gap year,” Bertie, a high-achieving 6-year-old with a helicopter mother, Domenica, the resident wise Mrs. Madrigal-type, and Bruce, who is honestly a completely fascinating character. In fact, while Pat is nominally the main character, and Bertie […]
Outlander/Last of the Mohicans Remix
I stumbled on the MacKinnon’s Rangers trilogy by Pamela Clare while looking for Clare’s more contemporary work.Untamed (2008) is the second book in this series and involves the second MacKinnon brother–Morgan. Morgan and his two other brothers are Scottish, but grew up in the wilds of America after the Battle of Culloden decimated their clan. Now that Morgan’s older brother Ian is happily settled with a wife and child, Morgan is in charge of the Rangers: a separate, elite armed force set up to support the […]