Movies

            So after consideration I did come up with categories for the movie section of my blog. These categories will be "vintage" which will be basically anything before 1990, contemporary (everything after 1990), Made for TV, Cartoon Movies, Cartoons, and Live Action TV shows. I will also have a sub category of "This movie is so incredibly stupid it's actually amusing". This will be indicated by a laughing emoji at the beginning of the review. Some of the movies I will be reviewing have had remakes done (and in very rare cases they are the remakes). Therefore, I will put the dates of the ones I am reviewing next to the title.

        

Princess Florecita and the Iron Shoes

            I was trying to think about how I wanted to structure this section of my blog. As I mentioned, my love of fantasy began with the fairy tales of my childhood. I read a lot of fairy tale adaptations that I will speak of, but I also decided that I would also speak of some of the fairy tales that I enjoyed, ones you may not have heard of before. The first one is Princess Florecita and the Iron Shoes.

            The story of Princess Florecita is a Spanish one. One day Florecita learns of a sleeping prince from a little bird. This prince is handsome, kind, and gentle (reminds me a little of Sleeping Beauty). She is told that only a maiden can break the spell by drifting a black feather over his forehead and that he is so far away that she would wear out a pair of iron shoes looking for him. Florecita decides to go seek out the prince and has a special pair of iron shoes made for the occasion. In her journey, she meets the mothers of the West, East, and North wind which tell her which way to go. In the end she rescues the prince and they live happily ever after.

            What I liked about this story is its strong female lead. She goes out to save the prince, not the other way around. All together an excellent story.

My Lord Vampire

             

I first read this book several years ago. When I was finding the pictures to put here on this site, I noticed another book popping up with the same title but with another author's name. At first I didn't think anything of it until I noticed some pictures lining them  up together. Looking further into the plot line of the second book, I realized that it was the same story! Debbie Raleigh had originally published it under her "regency" pseudonym. When she decided to start writing paranormal romances under the name Alexandra Ivy, she re-released them under her new pseudonym. I really do hate it when authors do this. You think you are getting a new book because the cover is different (and in this case the author as well), and it's all a lie.

            Anyway, now that my rant is done, let me tell you a bit about this book, which is one of the few vampire novels that I have read and enjoyed. It is the first in the "Immortal Rogue" series, My Lord Eternity and Lord Immortality follow. All of these books are excellent and I have read them several times.

            The basic premise of the series is that centuries before the great vampire Nefri created the magical Veil where vampires could live in peace away from the temptations of mortals, but now three evil vampires convinced of their superiority over the human race have returned to Earth to reclaim what they feel is theirs. To do this they need the magical Medallion that Nefri used to create the Veil in the first place. To prevent the evil vampires from getting this Medallion, Nefri bound it to the souls of three mortal women: Simone, Jocelyn, and Amelia. She then sends out three noble vampires: Gideon, Lucien, and Sebastian to protect these maidens, and since these are romances you know what will happen.

            Anyway this first story follows the romance of Simone and Gideon. Simone is a wealthy widow who is the life of any party and she doesn't like Gideon one bit. She thinks he's arrogant and way too mysterious. Plus Simone can't let anyone get to close to her because she bears a terrible secret as well. One that could ruin everything she holds dear. A good clean romance that any will enjoy. The book is available under Alexandra Ivy in paperback, nook, and kindle. You can also purchase used copies under the original Debbie Raleigh name.

A Study in Silks

            What if Sherlock Holmes had a younger sister who decided to run off with a gypsy that had magical powers? What if they had a daughter that had all the wits of her Holmes relatives and all the magic of her father's kin? What if that daughter then had to enter "polite" society and helped her famous uncle on some of his cases?

            That is the basic idea of this steam punk Victorian novel. In this version of London, the world is controlled by the powerful steam barons who decide who gets power and who dies alone on the street. Needless to say they hate anyone that can use magic because magic is the one thing that can undermine their control on their world. Enter Evelina Cooper. Evelina is the niece of the great Sherlock Holmes, and she can do magic. She also has some control over metal and the ability to control "spirits" by placing them in the metal creations she creates. Evelina must hide this gift from everyone because the steam barons would try to use her magic for their own ends, placing her forever in a laboratory to perform diabolical experiments on her.

            There is a love triangle going on between her, the son of a prominent family friend named Tobias and the boy from her past, Nick.

            Our story begins with the death of a maid. Evelina feels that as the niece of Sherlock Holmes she should be able to find out the culprit and prove herself worthy of her mother's family. She does solve the murder, but I'm not going to tell you who did it! Quite an enjoyable story.

            This is the first in a series of three with a short story collection published recently. I am currently reading the second one. It is available on Nook and Kindle as well as in paperback form.

An explanation of High Fantasy

I got to thinking today that many of the authors that I will be reviewing in my "epic" fantasy section return to their world for more stories over the course of years. Some of these sequel series I have read, some I have not. Some I tried to read and did not like, but that doesn't mean that you won't. I've decided that if there are additional books connected to the ones I review I will indicate it with an * next to the title. Then if you want to read more books about that world, you can.